


Before

by DoveQueen



Series: Gravity Falls - Alane Fanfictions [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Backupsmore University, Classes, Experiments, Gen, Lies, Prequel, Suicide, Tests, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-11-19 20:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 47,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11321457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoveQueen/pseuds/DoveQueen
Summary: Before Ford went through the portal, before Alane met the Pines twins, before the apocalypse began, before she lost her memories. Before, Alane and Ford were friends.This book takes place in the late 60's-early 70's time range at Backupsmore University, where Alane and Ford first met. It follows the course of the three weeks Alane was there, and gives a bit of insight on the two's relationship before Bill went and messed everything up because he's a pointy jerk.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Before you start, just take a moment to read this please. 
> 
> I sort of couldn't find an exact date that Ford attended the university in canon, so I just sort of gave him an age and never mention an exact year. Thing is, I'm _pretty sure_ I made Ford too young in this to actually work with the canon story. So, in the strange AU that these books take place, Ford was just barely eighteen when he arrived at Backupsmore, and almost nineteen when he met Alane. I don't plan on changing that because I needed him to be young enough to still want to hang out with Alane, but if any of you readers happen to know how old he was at Backupsmore, I'd love to know. XD
> 
> Side note: recognize this chapter? You probably do if you read the previous book, because this is the prologue to it! This chapter, along with one that was a combo of the next three chapters, and the last two of the story were originally part of the original book. But I wanted to go into this relationship in a bit more detail, so I edited everything but this out and went and wrote another book. I-I've got a bit of a problem with these two.

It was early autumn. The trees surrounding Alane were in the process of changing color, their leaves a rainbow of greens, oranges and yellows. She was looking up at the ones above her blissfully from where she lay as a gust of wind blew over, shaking the branches. A single brown leaf floated down from the tree, landing on her forehead.

She gingerly picked it up by the stem, holding it in front of her face curiously. Alane spun it around, looking at all of the unique and beautiful details on the dead leaf. It was still in her hand when the world began to darken, color draining from the forest around her and everything becoming gray and dreary. The leaf lost its color too, becoming practically white.

The girl looked up eagerly, a smile on her face as a spot before her began to glow with yellow light. The sky and forest behind the spot swirled around, mixed with the yellow glow as suddenly, a being appeared. "Bill!" She greeted happily.

"Hiya, kid," he greeted, floating over. The yellow triangle dipped his hat to her as he straightened his black bow tie. "Sorry about my absence. I've been sorta preoccupied lately."

"It's fine, I understand," she said with a smile, sitting up and crossing her legs as she set the leaf on the ground besides her. "You're here now, and that's what counts. How are you?"

Bill floated over, picking up the leaf she had just set down before floating about a foot away with it. He studied it with his one eye, turning it slowly. "Good. But I've been thinking about something..." He dropped the leaf onto the ground, a gust carrying it away with the wind.

"Thinking about what?" She asked curiously.

"About what you're doing with your life," he replied, looking back at her. "Since that racing accident, you've just been a recluse." Memories flashed through her mind, and Alane cringed. "It's not a good habit to get into, kid."

"It's just better if I keep away from the humans," she said evenly, looking up at the tree. "They all think I'm dead, anyway."

The triangle floated around her and the tree, arms behind his back. "Yeah, it's probably best you keep away from your old gang. But meeting new humans is always an option. Maybe you should try something new, and, oh, less life-threatening?"

"What are you getting at?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

Bill snapped his fingers, a few pamphlets appearing before him. Each one depicted old buildings surrounded by large, green lawns, on which people walked or sat in groups.. "There are three colleges around here accepting new students. I think you should apply to them and see if you can get in to one."

"And why would I want to do that?" Alane raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I've gone to dozens of schools and had hundreds of tutors these past few hundred years alone. It's not like a college will teach me anything I don't already know."

"Don't be so sure," Bill said, shrugging as the pamphlets vanished. "I hear there's been a lot of scientific breakthroughs lately. Humans are getting smarter, and if you can't learn from them, the least you could do is help them along. I mean, their lifespans are pitifully short and they give up so easily. They could really use your help."

Alane folded her arms across her chest. "How come you want me to attend a college?" She asked. "Up until now, this is the first time you've ever acted like you cared about the human race in the slightest."

He shrugged, turning his back to her. "I haven't been appearing to you lately, but I've been keeping an eye on ya, kid. This is all you ever do anymore, and it's boring the heck outta me. You need to get over what happened during that drag race and start doing stuff again. I mean, really, it's been seventeen years.

"Going to a college would be something you've never done before," he continued, turning back around. "You'll get to meet a bunch of new fleshbags, baffle them with your genius, and then move on after you've had the college experience. It'll just be something to get you back into the swing of things."

Alane had the feeling that there was more behind this than he was letting on, but she didn't press him about it. He'd tell her if he wanted to. "Let's say I go to college. How long should I stay? Where do I even apply? How will I fit in?"

"You stay as long as you want to." Bill rolled his eye, leaning back with his hands behind him as if he were reclining in a chair. "And the nearest college, Backupsmore University, is just a mile from here. You could apply right in the office if you like the place. And fitting in?" He let out a harsh laugh, floating over to Alane and putting an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him. "Kid, you're a shape shifter. If you're worried about looking too young, just make yourself look older. And if you're worried about not fitting in because you're smart, then just act like the average human. You'll blend in with the stupid crowd and not even be noticed."

Bill vanished, reappearing a few feet away from her. "So, what do you say, kid? You gonna go to college?"

A silence stretched out between them for a moment. _I don't especially want to go,_ she thought, looking at the ground as the colorless leaves blew about. _But sitting around in the woods every day is starting to get boring..._

She looked back up at Bill. "How long are applications being accepted at Backupsmore?" She asked.

"For about two more weeks. But the college is so low grade that they'd accept someone with your intellect in an instant, even if you put a form in late."

Alane nodded. "Give me a week to think it over, then."

"Sure thing, kid." Bill gave her a mock salute. "I'll be back in a week to see what you decide."

And with that, he vanished, and Alane blinked open her eyes.

The brown leaf was still on her forehead, her never having really taken it off for she'd been asleep speaking with Bill. As she stared at the underside of it, the wind blew the leaf away. She sat up and watched it get swept off with the hundreds of other fallen leaves.

She let out a long sigh. "College, huh?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I typically only upload chapters to /completed/ books, but I'm trying to get myself to finish this one, so... here's chapter two for y'all.
> 
> I've got a chapter to edit, finish and proof, then two short final chapters to write. After that I'll have the rest of the book up. Sorry if any of you have been awaiting the chapters of this (though it's unlikely), I've been working on other projects. Should have the rest up soon enough- then I can continue working on the sequel to the previous book. Yay, writing xD

About a week later, Bill appeared to her once again. "Well, kid?" He'd asked, floating around her with a questioning look in his one yellow eye. "You made a decision yet?"

"Maybe," she had replied quietly. "I'm just not sure if I'm alright with being around _so many people_ again. You said it yourself, it's been seventeen years."

"Kid," Bill said, floating close to her face and narrowing his eye. "You're real stupid for being so hesitant about this. You're never going to be alright with humans again if you don't do this!"

She sighed. "I know, I'm just sorta nervous about-"

"Why is there any reason to be nervous about school?" He laughed harshly. "You've done a lot scarier stuff, kid. Heck, the last interesting thing you did was try to ramp over a freaking ravine in that beat up car of your's with your pal. How were you not scared then, but you're scared now?"

"That was different," she protested. "We had built up to doing that stunt, and you still know how it turned out. Beat up car at the bottom of a ravine, metal through my leg, broken arm and a dead best friend in the passenger seat."

"So, what? You think going to college is going to result in another friend dying?" Bill laughed again. "Kid, you're paranoid! Just either avoid cars or don't make friends and you'll be fine. But I need to know if you've made your decision."

Alane sighed again, rubbing her face. "I guess I can give it a try." She looked up at Bill, who looked incredibly pleased for a floating triangle with no mouth. "But if anything happens, if _anyone_ I know gets hurt, I'm out of there."

"No one's going to get hurt, kid. It's college! What's the worst that could happen?"

Now walking down the road towards the college, she wondered just what exactly _would_ happen. Would she have fun, make some new friends? Or would she be an outcast who was never spoken to? Guess she had no real way to tell.

Backupsmore University loomed ahead of her at the end of the street. It had a real pretty campus and large oaks lined the road up to the building. The building itself... a little rundown.

On the lawn, students milled about, it being too early still for their classes to have begun. Alane felt anxiety building up inside of her as she grew nearer. _There are so many people!_

Bill's voice rang through her head, the dream demon currently being in her mind. "Calm your nerves, kid," he said, and Alane knew that he was probably rolling his eye. "You need to find the registration office and fill out a form. Ask someone for directions or something.

"Anyway, I gotta go," Bill continued as Alane reached the end of the road. The building towered over her like a castle. "Get acquainted with people, get settled in. I'll check up with you in a few days." And with that, Bill vanished.

Now on her own, Alane felt even more nervous. She looked around at the people milling about on the lawn, trying to figure out who to ask. The only person who _wasn't_ in a group was a boy sitting on a bench not too far off. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to him.

"Hi," she said after stopping in front of him. She held onto the straps of her backpack with an awkward smile on her face.

The boy looked up from his book, as if confused as to why someone would be talking to him. "Hello," he said, straightening his glasses. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah. Well, hopefully," she said with a slight laugh. "I'm looking for the registration office?"

He pointed towards the building. "It's just inside on your right," he said, looking back down at his book.

"Thanks," she said with a smile. "I'm Alane, by the way."

"Fiddleford McGucket," the boy replied evenly, not looking back up. Alane stood there for a second more before turning and walking towards the building. _He must not be one for social interaction,_ she figured. _Like me, I guess._

Inside the building was mostly deserted. The only person there was a boy writing down math equations on another bench, just across from the office. Alane looked at him with her head tilted for a moment, considering whether or not to speak to him. She decided against it, turning instead to the office and walking in.

The office was small and messy. Filing cabinets lined the only wall with a window, effectively cutting out the only source of natural light. The fan on the ceiling moved slowly and was lopsided, two out of three light bulbs burnt out. The floor was carpet and in desperate need of a vacuuming.

At the other side of the office was a large painting of a river, hanging above an antique wooden desk. A man sat behind it, writing something down on a paper.

Alane cleared her throat, causing the man to look up. "Can I help you?" He asked.

"I assume so. This is where my, uh... Step dad told me to go," Alane said, walking over. She slid her backpack to the floor as she sat down in one of the chairs before the desk. "I'm looking to join your school."

"Oh, you must be confused," the man said with an apologetic smile. "We're not enrolling new students currently. You must've mistaken our event for enrollments. See, we're allowing high school students to attend classes for a week to get to know our school and its program."

"Well, I hope you'll consider letting me enroll anyway," Alane said, unzipping her backpack and pulling out some papers and pictures. She put them on the desk, pushing them towards the man. "Here are my current degrees and graduation papers from schools all around the world. I have also included pictures of events I've attended, machines I've built and photos of a few graduations."

 _Sure hope Bill is right about this,_ Alane thought nervously. The degrees were all from twenty or more years ago. Bill had said the man would overlook the dates and not question her about them. She just hoped he was right.

The man looked at the papers, his mouth open slightly and eyes shocked. "Wha... I don't... How..." He stammered, picking up a picture of her most recent invention: a mobile phone. He looked up at Alane. "We would be honored to have you in our school."

Alane grinned, taking the papers and pictures from the desk before putting them back in her backpack. "Thank you. I will have my tuition fee ready for you in a day or two."

"No need," the man said, smiling a too-big smile. "You can attend our school for free. Really, it'd be our honor to have you here." The man was clearly thinking about how the school would be given credit for any success she had later in life. Having given free tuition to a successful inventor would probably boost the college's status, considering how low ranking it was.

"Oh, well, thank you," Alane said. "But I can pay?"

"Look, we're giving free classes for the next week to high school students, and you're clearly of high school age," the man said, interlocking his lands on the table. "Join some classes, get used to the grounds. In a week, if you like the place, _then_ we can discuss any sort of tuition price.

"Now." The man pulled a sheet of paper out of one of the desk drawers, along with a pen. "What classes are you interested in taking?"

Alane told him all the classes she was interested in; cooking, robotics, mythology and the like, and he wrote them down on the paper. Once he was done, he pulled out all the times for the classes and together they worked out a schedule. For the next week, she was going to have almost non-stop classes.

After her classes were sorted out and she had a paper with rooms and times on it, the man gave her another slip of paper. "This has your building, floor and dorm numbers," he said before passing her a key. "The room is reserved for the high schoolers I mentioned, so it's currently empty. Unless more students come for the week, you won't have a roommate during your time at our school. I hope that's alright?"

"Perfectly fine," she said with a grin. "I prefer my privacy anyway."

"Good," he said, returning her grin. "If you need help finding your classes, just consult the paper I gave you, ask a fellow student, or come back to my office. I hope you have an educational time at our university."

Alane picked up her backpack, slinging it over a shoulder. "I'm sure I will. Thank you," she said before leaving the room.

Out in the hall, it was starting to get crowded. It was about ten o'clock in the morning and people were rushing this way and that, trying to get to classes. As people rushed past her, they either didn't acknowledge her existence at all, or stared at her as they passed. She was pretty uncomfortable about it.

She looked at the slip of paper. "Building five, floor three, room three-oh-two," she murmured before glancing up. _Where the heck is building five?_ She'd only seen the one building upon arriving. Maybe there were more behind it?

Not wanting to get lost, Alane searched the crowd for a friendly looking face. There weren't many people who didn't look like they had somewhere to be, aside from that boy still doing math on the bench. But he seemed busy. She probably shouldn't bug him...

Alane walked over anyway.

"Hi," she said, a hand holding onto one of the straps for her backpack, and the other holding the slip of paper. "I, uh, was hoping you could give me directions to my dorm? Or at least the building I'm in?"

The boy looked up, startled. "U-Uh," he stammered, as if unsure of what she just asked. He paused a moment, seeming to gather himself before saying, "Yes, I can give you directions. What's your building number?"

"Building five," she replied.

"Okay, you're going to want to go down this hall and out into the yard," the boy said, pushing up his glasses as he gestured further down the hall. "It'll be just past the..." He trailed off, looking back up at her. "You know? Let me just show you."

"Don't you have classes to attend?" She asked as the boy stood, putting his math homework back in his bag before picking it up.

"None of my classes begin until eleven thirty," he replied with an awkward smile before gesturing down the hall. "Uh, follow me?"

Alane followed the boy down the hall. The crowd was thinning out, so they didn't have to dodge too many people. Pretty soon, they were outside and behind the building. She'd been correct; there were more buildings behind the main one.

"Thank you for doing this," Alane said with a smile at the boy, who, now that he was standing, was about a foot taller. "I'm Alane by the way."

"Stanford Pines," he told her with an awkward grin. "You can just call me Ford if you want."

"Alright. Good to meet you, Ford." Her smile widened as the boy blushed slightly. She had a feeling he was going to be a good friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare for a flood of updates to this thing- I just finished writing everything out!

Ford ended up giving her the grand tour of the grounds, showing her were all of her classes were and everything before bringing her to her building. "Hey. If you ever need any help finding things, just let me know?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I think I should be fine," she told him with a smile. "My memory is pretty good. But in case I do need help, where can I find you?"

"My dorm is in building four," he said, turning around and pointing down the sidewalk. "Directly across from here on the other side of campus. I'm on floor two, room two hundred and one... should I write that down?"

"I got it." She smiled at him, hitching up her bag a little. Everything she owned was in the pack, and it was heavy, even for her. "See you around campus?"

"Definitely," he said with a smile. Alane gave him a little wave as she walked up the steps to her building and entered.

The room she stepped into was cramped. A small sitting room was to her left, a bathroom to her right, and the stairs directly ahead. Inside, the air was musty, the walls covered in old wallpaper and the flooring dingy carpet.

She looked around at everything, instantly feeling dirtier just by standing there. With a slight shudder, she walked over to the stairs and up to her floor, where she found her room at the end of the hall. Using the key the man, she hadn't even gotten his name, had given her, she opened it up and walked inside.

The room was... Decent. The carpet wasn't as old, looked new, even, and the walls were a slate blue paint. There was one large window at the back of the room, which looked out over the grounds and let in a lot of light.

To her left was a closet, and to her right was a small bathroom. The handles on either door and the one leading into the room were all different, one being glass, one silver, and another brass. Very hodgepodge looking.

Further into the room, on either side of the window, were two beds. There was also a desk, a dresser with a lamp on it, and an old chair. In the center of the room was a brownish rug with trees that had eyes all over the bark. She looked at it curiously before sliding her bag to the floor and taking a deep breath.

This was her home for the next week, maybe even longer.

Alane made quick time of taking everything out of her bag. She folded up her clothes and put them in the dresser, just a spare two outfits she didn't typically wear, before taking her projects out and setting them up atop the dresser. Just her new mobile phone, a device she was making that should be able to store and transfer a lot of data from computers, and some other random gizmos and machines, along with supplies for working on them.

Next Alane put those pictures, degrees and papers into a drawer in the desk. No reason to lug them around all the time when she didn't need to. After that, Alane just took her few books out of her backpack and set them on the desk besides her diary and a few balls of yarn.

"Well," she murmured. "Guess I'm unpacked."

Since her classes didn't begin until the next day, Alane had pretty much nothing to do. She killed about five minutes by making a short entry in her diary, just saying she'd decided to go to college, but when she was done she was left bored again.

"Humans spend most of their time at college sleeping or studying, right?" She murmured, eyeing the bed. Wasn't like she had anything to do right then. Plus she _did_ want to fit in.

With a shrug, Alane walked over to the bed and curled up by the pillows. She was asleep within seconds, even though it was only noon and the room was bright with sunlight.

 

By the time she was awake, it was five thirty, and she was _hungry_.

Making her way down through the dorms, Alane passed a few other students. They didn't pay her much attention as she passed, but she heard them mutter as she was walking away. It made her incredibly uncomfortable, the idea of them talking about her.

Outside, long shadows stretched across the lawn as the sun set. It was a bit chilly out, and she was glad she wore a sweater, even if it only reached midway down her torso. But, hey, with the white t-shirt she had on under it, it was real warm.

Alane made her way to the cafeteria. Ford had shown her were it was earlier, and she took a moment to be glad about that as she walked in. 

The room was packed full of students and teachers eating dinner or walking around, and Alane instantly felt claustrophobic. Being as quick as she could, she grabbed a bowl then went to the back of the line for food. She stood there for about five minutes before she was given anything; a large helping of spaghetti and a piece of bread. It smelled good enough, but the looks... left something to be desired.

When she stepped out of line, Alane walked over to the tables. But she stopped after only a few steps, tensing up.

Every table had people at it. Some of them were packed, others had only a few stragglers, but either way, there were people. She'd been really hoping there'd be an empty table for her to sit at by herself, eat quickly then leave...

 _Where should I sit?_ She wondered, looking around nervously. It was then something caught her attention; someone in the corner of the room waving in her direction. Someone shifted in their seat at a table in front of her, and Alane was suddenly able to see the waver. It was Ford, sitting at the same table as Fiddleford.

Relieved, Alane walked along the outside of the room and over to them. Three benches were around the table, so Alane sat at the remaining empty one. Fiddleford was to her left, Ford to her right.

"Fiddleford, allow me to introduce you to Alane," Ford said as she sat.

Fiddleford looked up from his book on mechanics, glancing over at her. "We've already met, actually," he said, looking back down at the page.

"Nice to see you both again," she said with a smile.

"As it is to see you," Ford said giddily. "How have you been adjusting to the campus?"

She smiled awkwardly as she picked up her fork. "None of my classes start until tomorrow, so I've actually just been sleeping all day," she said sheepishly before taking a bite of the pasta. Really wasn't that bad.

Ford nodded, as if considering this. "What classes do you have tomorrow?" He eventually asked.

Alane took another bite as she thought this over. "I have mythology at ten, robotics at twelve, advanced geometry at two and workshop at three-thirty." She paused a second. "Think I'm going to stop by the gym after that and see if they have anything interesting."

"The gym is mainly for guys like them." Ford gestured with a thumb to a group sitting across from them. They were all huge, muscular guys who looked like they could snap a bone just by flexing. "They've got a wrestling team and work out equipment, but that's about it. I wouldn't waste my time there if I were you.

"But, hey, I have advanced geometry tomorrow too," he continued with a smile. "At the same time, actually. What are the odds we share a class?"

"Actually extremely likely, given the small amount of classes this place provides," Fiddleford commented as he flipped pages. 

Ford was frowning at the other boy as Alane ate the rest of her food. "So," she said, wiping her mouth off on a napkin. "How do you guys know each other?"

"He's my roommate," Ford said, rolling his eyes in good humor. "A completely insane conspiracy theorist."

"I'm not a conspiracy theorist," Fiddleford said, looking up from his book. "You know darn well the reptilians faked the moon landing."

"Reptilians?" Alane asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ya know, those lizard men?" He looked down at his book with a sigh when she didn't seem to catch on.

Alane and Ford watched him for a moment before she turned to the other guy, a grin on her face. "I like him. Where can I get one?"

"Uh," Ford stammered, face reddening a bit as he tried to figure out what to say.

"That was a joke, Stanford," Alane said, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a grin. _Cute little adorable human,_ she thought as she looked at him. _Can't even comprehend a joke._

"Ah, yes, a joke, right," he said awkwardly before quickly adding. "Not that I actually thought you wanted a clone of him or something, since cloning people is, at least currently, scientifically impossible."

She uttered a short laugh. "So, Fiddleford and Stanford," she mused. "Ford and Ford. This is gonna get confusing. Maybe I should just call one of you 'Ford' and the other 'Ford Point Two.' Which of you is older?"

"I believe I am," Stanford said.

Alane nodded. "Okay, then you'll be Ford: The Original, and he'll be Ford Point Two: The Sequel."

"For the record, I don't like that nickname," Fiddleford grumbled.

"It's a nickname, you don't have to like it!" She laughed, winking at him.

Fiddleford sighed, getting up and shutting his book. "I'm going back to our dorm to continue reading," he told Ford. "I have an idea for a new invention and I need somewhere quiet to study this."

"Alright," Ford said. "I'm gonna hang around for a little longer. See you later."

Fiddleford walked away, eyeing Alane for a second before disappearing into the crowd. A heavy silence fell over the table upon his departure, and with her food gone, Alane couldn't think of anything to do but tap her index fingers together awkwardly.

"So," Ford eventually said. "You one of the high school students attending classes for the week?"

"Nah." She waved a hand, putting her elbow on the table. "I'm enrolled here as of today."

"You enrolled today?" He asked in surprise. "But, I didn't think new students could be enrolled until next year? And you're so..." He trailed off.

"So young?" She asked with a laugh. "Yeah, I get that a lot. I'm older than I look, believe me." _A_ lot _older than I look,_ she added to herself. "And they let me enroll because it would apparently 'be an honor' to have me at the school."

"What, you a super genius or something?" He asked with a grin.

"Basically, yes," she replied with a similar grin as surprise registered on his face. "I mean, I don't claim to know _everything,_ but I am pretty smart."

"If you're so smart, why attend such a low ranking college as this?" He asked, genuinely confused. "I'd give anything to be able to attend a better school."

"Because of my, uh... step dad. Yup, stepdad. He suggested this school," she said, stumbling a bit to avoid mentioning Bill by name. "Said I should attend and see how I like the place. Get the college experience, you know? Plus, this was the closest one to my area. I haven't traveled in a while and I wanted to stay close."

"I get it. Wanna stay close to family," he said quietly, trailing off near the end as his gaze became distant.

Alane looked at him worriedly. "You alright?" She asked, touching his hand with her own in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

The touch jolted Ford out of whatever daze he'd been in. He quickly looked from their hands to her, his face reddening. "Y-Yes, I'm fine," he stammered, moving his hand as he looked away from her. "Just remembered something that happened recently. It's nothing, really."

"If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here," she told him with a thin smile, moving her hand back to her lap. "But I get it if you don't wanna."

"Thanks, but I'm fine," he told her before sighing. "My brother just really screwed things up for me and we had a fight." He paused a second before looking over at her. "You got any siblings?"

"Nah, but I wish I did," she said longingly. "Get's pretty lonely being by myself most of the time."

Ford sighed. "Sometimes I wish I knew what it were like to be an only child. I mean, Stanley and I got along real well as kids, but now? He's just selfish and cares only about his interests."

"I assume this is about the fight you two had?"

He nodded. "He broke my perpetual motion machine that would've gotten me into my dream school. Ruined my chances at getting the best education possible because he didn't want me to go off to college and leave him behind."

"Doesn't sound like your brother was being entirely selfish. Seems to me he was just scared of losing you." She laughed. "Heck, if I had siblings I'd do anything to keep them around." 

"Well, it doesn't matter now," Ford muttered. "Dad kicked him out before I came here. He took the car and drove off. Haven't heard from him since."

"Doesn't that worry you at all, not hearing from him?" Alane was honestly shocked. "How long has it been?"

"Oh, a few months now." He waved a hand dismissively. "But I know Stanley is fine. He's the toughest guy I know. Probably has a job by now, maybe a house even. I don't waste my time worrying about him and what he's up to."

Alane wore a small frown. "You should try to figure out where he's at and how he's been sometime," she said quietly. "Your brother clearly cares about you, and you shouldn't take that for granted. Someday, you may need his help and not be able to find him. Or you do find him, but not in the way you'd expected."

"Are you suggesting Stanley might be dead?" He let out a shocked laugh. "That's highly improbable. He was the boxing champion at our school for four years straight. He can defend himself."

"Don't brush aside the possibility to easily. There are other ways to die aside from fighting. You said he took the car, correct? He could get into a wreck, if he hasn't already."

"Nonsense. Stanley is a great driver."

"My friend Tommy was a great driver, too," Alane said, cringing slightly at his name. "He was a mechanic and raced cars in his free time. His buddies convinced him to do a real stupid daredevil stunt to prove how good of a driver he was.

"They built a huge ramp besides this ravine where a river used to run. He drove full speed for a mile all the way to the ramp. And?" Her face was sad as she recalled the plummet. "He didn't make it. He was the best of the best, and he died like that." She snapped her fingers.

"I know it's not likely your brother will be drag racing or ramping over things in his car." Alane stood up from the table, still looking at Ford, who was looking at her wide-eyed. "But if he's driving while upset about ruining your education, upset about being kicked out, heck, even upset about losing a job, the chances of him crashing are high."

She began to walk away, leaving her empty bowl at the table. She stopped after a few steps though, looking back at Ford. "Your brother isn't invincible, Ford. Things can happen to him, just like things can happen to you or me. So don't assume he's alright until you've spoken to him."

With that, she walked from the building, leaving Ford behind her looking stricken.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Alane got up bright and early to prepare for her classes, wanting to make a good impression on the other students.

First, she got changed into some bell bottom pants and a different sweater, this one olive green with gold accents which she'd also knitted. After that, she combed her hair for the first time in probably three months, doing it up in her usual pony-tail with two strands of hair kept out by her face.

After that, she slipped her boots on, effectively adding another inch and a half to her height. Then she just sat down on her bed and awaited ten o'clock to near.

At about nine thirty, she left her dorm with her backpack, going straight to her mythology class. She arrived twenty minutes early and was the only one in class. So, after grabbing a free used mythology book from the front of the room and a free notebook, she just doodled until class started.

Mythology class was a little disappointing. Most of the stuff the teacher, Mrs. Evangelista, taught were either things she'd already heard about, or actual fact. She had to fight the urge to go to the front of the class and correct her on her teaching for the entire hour and forty minutes.

Next class was robotics. Fiddleford was in this class and spent a good third of the time showing everyone a blueprint he'd made for a portable computer system. It was very intriguing to hear about, though most of the class laughed at the idea.

She meant to stop the boy after class had ended and tell him she thought it was a good idea, but he was gone the second it was over and lost in the crowd. So, it being now one o'clock, Alane went to lunch before attending her advanced geometry class.

Ford waved to her when she arrived, and she waved back, though they didn't talk to each other. Alane still felt a bit of the tension from their last conversation and didn't want to accidentally stir things up again.

For the next hour and a half, it seemed Alane and Ford were having a competition to see who was the best in the class. She'd answer one question right, then he would, then she would, and so on. At one point, Ford even got up and wrote some things on the board for the entire class. By the end of things, she was actually impressed. She hadn't met a human as smart as Ford since her pal Leonardo.

Alane would've stuck around to chat with Ford a bit after class, but by the time she was at the door, she was late for workshop. She didn't miss much though and ended up finishing her project, a small clock, well before everyone else had finished their's.

When the clock on the wall finally struck four twenty, Alane put her own clock in her backpack and left, feeling satisfied with her first day of college. Only problem now was what to do until dinner at five thirty.

She pondered this for awhile before deciding to ignore Ford's advice and pay the gym a visit.

The gym was all the way across campus, but she made quick time of getting there. When she threw the doors open though, she immediately regretted her decision of stopping by.

All the big buff guys from the cafeteria yesterday were there, among others and who she assumed was the coach for the wrestling team. All the workout equipment was taken; even the tether ball set up at the back of the gym was being used. Along with this, the entire building stunk as if it'd never been cleaned.

She stood there for a moment going unnoticed by the gym goers, but it seemed as soon as she decided to leave they spotted her. The guy nearest dropped the weight he held and looked at her, his expression one of amusement. "I think you're in the wrong building, little girl," he scoffed.

"Yeah," one of the other guys piped up as more people saw her. "The playground is across campus."

Their comments sent everyone into a flurry of laughter, and Alane felt her face reddening. But, rather than leave, she stood up straighter and walked over to the coach. When she stopped in front of him he looked down at her, clearly wondering how she was going to waste his time. "I'd like to join the wrestling team," she declared, chin up.

This made everyone burst out laughing once again. The coach even looked amused. "This is a boys only wrestling team, kid," he said evenly, the corner of his mouth twitching up in a grin. "Plus, no offence, but you're as thin as a twig and as short as a third grader. You'd be pummeled by my boys."

"Don't write me off so easily," she protested, letting her backpack slide to the floor. "I'm tougher than I look."

"Get out of here, girl. You're embarrassing yourself!" Someone called from across the gym, but she remained firmly where she stood.

"Let me fight someone from your team," she asked the coach. "The weakest member of it, if you're worried I'll be hurt. Just give me a shot."

"Kid, I already said this was a boys only team." The coach folded his arms and looked down at her as if she were a small child. "Even if you could fight, you still couldn't join."

"Then just allow me to fight someone. One on one, you're out if you're pinned," she compromised. "I look like a fool in here and I want to wipe the stupid grins off of all these guys' faces by beating one of them."

"I'll fight her, coach," a guy said, walking over. He wore a white tank top and orange shorts, his blond hair spiked up with gel. His face was red from working out and given his muscles, he was clearly one of the stronger guys there. "I'll go easy on her."

"You're not fighting a high school student, let alone a girl," the coach said, lightly hitting the boy on the side of the head. "You'd break one of her bones just by knocking her over." He looked back down at Alane, all amusement gone from his eyes. "Go to dinner, kid. This really isn't a place for you."

Alane stared at the coach for a moment before grabbing her backpack. With an annoyed huff, she slung it over a shoulder and stalked towards the doors to the gym. She left without looking back at the gym goers, not wanting to see their amused faces.

Now out in the chilly air of dusk, Alane hitched up her backpack and made her way to the cafeteria, feeling completely embarrassed. _What was I thinking?_ She wondered as she walked around the building towards the entrance; the gym and cafeteria sat almost side-by-side on the campus. _Of course the wrestling team was boys only._ Everything _is boys only! I should've just listened to Ford and not gone._

She pushed open the doors to the cafeteria, a blast of warm air hitting her, along with the scent of greasy pizza. She paused a moment in the doorway, watching all the people in line for food before sighing, grabbing a plate and joining them.

Twenty minutes later, she sat down at a table with Ford, a slice of pizza on her plate and a Pitt Cola in hand. Fiddleford was nowhere to be seen, and Ford was drawing in a notebook, unaware she was there until she opened her soda. When she did, he jumped in his seat and looked up in alarm, though he relaxed a second later upon seeing her. "How was your first day of classes?" He asked her, shutting his notebook. 

"Fairly good," Alane replied, setting down her soda after taking a drink. "You surprised me in geometry. You're the first person I've met who's been able to keep up with me like that."

Ford was blushing a little as he took a sip of his own drink. "Yeah, well, I do my best," he said with a short laugh. Alane could tell he was feeling awkward, so she let the conversation drift into an easy silence as she ate her pizza. The crust on it was tough to bite through and it had to have been seventy percent cheese.

When her food was gone, Alane began searching for things to talk about. Only, when she was about to speak, she cut herself off upon hearing three pairs of feet approaching their table. Ford was looking past her shoulder in confusion, and she turned around to see what he was looking at.

Coming towards them were the boy with the gelled up blond hair and two other guys from the gym. Alane thought they could be heading to a different table, but when her eyes locked with the blond haired boy's, he sped up until he and his buddies reached the table.

Now standing behind the empty bench between her and Ford, the blond haired boy shot her a grin. "You've got some guts, asking to join the wrestling team like that," he said. Ford had been glaring at the boy, but now he faced Alane in alarm. "What's your name?"

"Alane," she said simply, her expression similar to that of the coach. _How are you gonna waste my time?_ "And you are?"

"Name's Rob. This is Jake and Tyler." He gestured to the guys on either side of him. "We're the best guys on the wrestling team. Even though coach says you can't join, we think you've got spunk in you. We wanna see what you can do."

"So what? You wanna fight me?" Alane asked with an unrestrained laugh. "Your coach already said he wouldn't allow it."

"Coach leaves the gym at seven every night, but the doors stay open till ten," Rob said with a shrug, putting his hands in his pockets. "Me and the guys were going to hang out, practice moves and just have a little fun. If you want to show us what you can do, stop by and we'll have someone wrestle you." His eyes flickered towards Ford. "You can bring your boyfriend to watch if you want."

"We're not dating," she said, her gaze still blank. "And I'll be there."

Jake and Tyler started chuckling to themselves as Rob grinned. "Great. See you then." And with that, the three walked away from their table and left the cafeteria all together.

The second they were gone, Ford whipped around to look at Alane, his eyes wide with shock. "Are you actually going to fight them?" He asked, voice just below a yell. "They are three times your size! You could get really hurt if you try to wrestle them! And what was that about trying to join the wrestling team?"

Alane let his questions hang in the air for a long moment, taking a sip of her soda before saying, "I went to the gym earlier and asked to be given a chance. I was turned away because I was a girl." She kept her gaze steady as she looked at Ford. "All the people there were laughing at me, like it was the silliest thing in the world for a girl to want to wrestle. So I'm gonna go, and I'm going to fight them, and I'm going to win." She paused and took another sip of her soda before adding, "We'll see who's laughing then."

"Did you not see them, Alane?" Ford asked slowly. "Those guys could kill you."

"I'm a lot tougher than I look. I can handle myself in a fight. Now, I'm going and that's that." She folded her arms and looked at Ford, head tilted slightly to the side. "Question is, are you gonna come watch me win?"


	5. Chapter 5

A couple hours later, Alane and Ford walked down the sidewalk towards the gym. Alane walked with a spring in her step, her shoulders back and gaze set on the building before them, excitement and confidence bubbling up inside of her. Ford, on the other hand, looked extremely nervous, though he wasn't even going to be fighting.

"You sure you want to do this?" He asked as they approached the door. His gaze was hopeful as he waited for her to answer.

Alane nodded, and Ford's hope seemed to drop away. "I want to do this, and I need to do this," she said stubbornly. Before he could protest her decision any more, she pushed open the door and walked inside. A second later, Ford followed her in.

Surprisingly, there was a crowd gathered in the gym. Backupsmore's students consisted primarily of nerds and kids too poor to attend a better school. But the crowd in the gym? It was all of the jocks, a couple of girls who could only be their girlfriends, and a bunch of high school boys. Definitely wasn't like the crowds in her classes.

Rob was working out nearby, but upon spotting them, he dropped his weights and walked over, eyes alight. "You actually came," he said in surprise before looking behind him. "You guys better pay up!"

Tyler walked over, grumbling to himself as he handed Rob a few bucks and a baseball card. "You guys bet on whether or not I'd show up?" Alane asked, mildly offended.

"Of course we did," Rob said, rolling his eyes. "Though everyone bet against you but me. So, you know, thanks for showin'." He winked at Alane, earning a frown from both her and Ford, before he turned and addressed the crowd.

"You guys ready to see what this kid can do?" Rob called, his voice echoing across the gym. This was greeted with cheers from everyone present. Rob was grinning ear to ear when he looked back at them. "Who do you wanna fight, kid?"

"Oh, I don't know," Alane said with a shrug. "I'd fight you, but I'm afraid I'd ruin your pretty little face." A few people gathered laughed at this or let out low _oooh!'s._ "Why don't you just pair me up to fight with whoever you think would be a somewhat even match?"

There was a trace of annoyance on Rob's face, but he just laughed, turning his head to the right and snapping his fingers. "Hey, Tommy! Get ready, you're fighting the kid."

Alane stiffened at the name. Her old friend's face flashed through her mind as she felt a wave of sadness sweep over her. Ford seemed to notice her sudden change in demeanor, for he rested a hand on her shoulder comfortingly as Tommy walked over.

Thankfully, the boy looked nothing like her old friend. This boy was built a bit bigger than him, with a slightly grown-in Mohawk that was dyed bright orange-red. He had piercing green eyes and a ring through his nose. Not really the type she expected to see on the wrestling team.

She sized up the boy real quick before nodding to herself. "Alright, yeah, guess I do need to warm up before a real fight," she mused. Sliding her backpack off, she turned to Ford. She could tell he was still not happy with what she was doing, but was trying to hide it. She held out her pack to him. "Mind holding this?"

"Sure thi-" he cut himself off as Alane let go of the pack and he nearly fell over. His eyes were wide as he tried to get a better grip on it. "Gosh, Alane. What do you have in this?"

"Five encyclopedias, homework and a mountable grandfather clock," she replied evenly before turning back towards Rob. "So, when do we start?"

About ten minutes later, Alane was on the wrestling mat. The gym didn't have wrestling uniforms for girls, so both Tommy and her were still wearing our original outfits, minus the shoes in Alane's case. Though she could still fight in the boots, she thought the inch heels might throw her off her game a little, so she had ditched them.

Tommy stood across from her, looking nervously over at Rob. "Dude," he said, his voice thick with some foreign accent. Sounded Scottish to her. "You really want me to fight this girl?" He looked back over at Alane for a second. "I don't think she's even five feet tall."

"She wanted a fight, so give her one," Rob said dismissively. "Go easy on her if you feel like it." Tommy rolled his shoulders and looked uncertainly at Alane as Rob began to walk around the mat.

"Now's the time to place any bets you have!" Rob called. "Who will win? Tommy or Alane?" A few people let out laughs, as if it were obvious who'd be winning this fight. Ford stood off to the side, Alane's backpack at his feet and hands behind his back, looking disapproving and a little scared.

Rob turned back to Alane and Tommy. "If you're outside the ring for three seconds, you're out." He gestured to the circle painted on the mats. "Get pinned for three seconds inside the ring, you're out." To Tommy, he added. "Try not to break bone." Before stepping away from the mat and calling out, "Begin!"

Tommy ran at her the second Rob yelled, but she remained where she was. When he was mere inches away, Alane ducked down and rolled out of the way before springing to her feet behind him and shoving him hard in the back with a foot. The boy flew forward out of the ring, but managed to scramble back in before it'd been three seconds.

He came at her again, and she did the same thing. This time when he stood back up, he looked a little angry. "You actually gonna fight or what?" He called.

"I was trying to go easy on you," Alane replied.

With what sounded like a growl, Tommy came at her again, and this time she met him head-on. He moved to grab her by the shoulders, but she was quicker, grabbing his arm just above and below the elbow before flipping him right over.

Tommy crashed against the ground with a bone-jarring thud, a low groan rumbling from him. Alane rested a foot on the dazed boy and counted to three before stepping back and looking around at everyone. Rob and the rest of the crowd looked absolutely shocked, but no one more so than Ford. "So," she said, popping her knuckles absentmindedly. "Who's next?"

This went on for, oh, about an hour and a half. Everyone on the wrestling team wanted to fight Alane, and everyone lost in similar fashions as Tommy. By the time the clock struck ten, the team was filing from the gym, battered and bruised, the rest of the crowd following them. Alane and Ford brought up the rear of the crowd and walked for a little ways in silence before Ford spoke up.

"I don't understand how it was psychically possible for you to do all that," Ford said breathlessly. "Those guys were bigger than both of us. How did you beat all of them?"

"The trick is to hold your ground and let them come at you," she replied, feeling a twinge of happiness that Ford seemed impressed. "You use their own momentum against them. Makes things a lot easier." Alane made sure to leave out the fact that she was stronger than most humans and it was really an unfair fight.

Ford chuckled quietly to himself. "Guess I was wrong to worry," he mused before glancing over at Alane, a spark of nervous excitement in his eyes. "I placed a bet on you, you know," he said slowly, as if afraid she'd disapprove of his gambling.

Alane stopped in her tracks, looking at him in surprise. "Seriously?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he laughed, fishing around in his pocket before pulling out the baseball card Rob had had previously. "I really wanted this card."

Laughing, Alane gave him a light and good-natured punch on the shoulder before she and him started walking again. "Didn't think you were the kind of guy to place bets," she chuckled.

"I'm really not," he said as he put the card back in his pocket. "But boy, if Stanley had been there? He would've bet on every round."

Alane looked at him from the corner of her eye. "You take my advice and talk to him yet?" She asked tentatively.

"I called home to see if he'd come back, but I haven't been able to get in contact with him yet," Ford sighed. "He probably doesn't want to talk to me anyways."

"I'm sure he does. You're his brother, after all." Alane offered him a small smile before elbowing him playfully. "I'm sorry if I upset you by insisting on fighting, by the way," she said as she put her hands in her pockets. "I was just written off as weak so easily by those guys and their coach, I got a bit mad."

"I probably would've done the same if I'd been in the situation." He paused to laugh heartily. "Though I probably would've lost."

"Maybe I could give you fighting lessons sometime?" She joked.

"Yeah, maybe," he replied, looking at her fondly. He seemed to realize he was staring and quickly snapped his head around, clearing his throat as he pointed ahead. "Looks like I've walked you to your building," he said with a forced laugh.

"So you have," she replied, hitching up her backpack a bit. "Guess I should head in. See you tomorrow?"

"Oh course," he said happily.

Alane walked away from Ford and up to the building. Once at the door, she paused and looked over to see him still standing there. She shot him a wave, and he returned her one before she stepped inside and closed the door.

Only when she was inside did she furrow her eyebrows and look at the ground in confusion. _Wait a minute. Did Ford have six fingers?_


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE FROM ME:  
> So myself and my friend, we sort of ship Alane x Ford. Yes, yes, it's weird, I know. But I started to like the ship after I'd written out the majority of the previous book, and I didn't want to go back and edit conversations a bit so I could work it in.
> 
> My solution was to include this chapter, which /was/ part of my original idea I'd like to add, and effectively destroy all hope of this ship working so I'd stop thinking about it. The chapter is a bit cringey, for me to read at least, but eh, it had to be included. Do not fret if you don't like the ship: it is not canon in the story (though the two may have some rather adorable moments at times but that's besides the point) and it probably won't be unless, oh, I don't know, Ford mysteriously starts aging like Alane in later books or something.

At the end of her robotics class the next day, Alane approached Fiddleford. She made sure to tell him that she loved the idea of his personal computers before changing the subject to Ford having six fingers.

"Yeah, six digits on each hand. You just noticed that?" He'd asked in surprise.

"I'm not really one to study someone's hands," she'd replied defensively.

"You been more focused on his face?" He'd asked with a teasing note.

She'd shrugged. "Well, I guess so." What? Was she supposed to look at his hands or something when speaking to him?

Fiddleford had chuckled about this before walking off to attend his next class.

Now in her cooking class, Alane kept absentmindedly going over the exchange in her mind, wondering why Fiddleford had found it so amusing. After a while, she gave up with a sigh, instead focusing on the teacher like she should've been doing the entire time.

"Today we will be making simple omelets," Mr. Kofi said from the front of the room. "You will find all the necessary ingredients at your stations, and a table has been set up at the back of the room with more ingredients you can add to your dish."

Alane looked back at the table, which had a variety of spices and such on it before turning back to Mr. Kofi. "Now," he was saying. "Before any of you begin, I must ask that you wear a hairnet if you've got shedding problems or wash your hands if you haven't already, because I _am_ required to taste your food."

Alane grinned to herself as a few of her classmates chuckled. Mr. Kofi then said they could begin cooking, and Alane immediately left her station and went to the table at the back of the room. She selected a variety of spices and some mushrooms before returning to her spot.

She took her time cracking the eggs and making sure she got no shell in it, where as she saw a few of her classmates picking shells out with their fingers. One boy in front of her actually got shell in his egg, but just left it there. Mr. Kofi was eyeing the boy warily from the front of the room where he had been writing down basic ingredients and directions for making an omelet.

Once she had her ingredients mixed, Alane poured the mixture into the pan. Her mouth watered at the smell of her dish, and she longed to try it. _I can always make this for myself some other time,_ she reminded herself. This one was just meant to get her a good grade.

Alane was flipping her omelet over on itself in the pan before some of the students even had their ingredients mixed. A few minutes later, she had the omelet on a plate and brought it up to Mr. Kofi for tasting. When she set it in front of him, he eyed it with mild fear.

"Can you confirm that everything in this dish is meant for human consumption?" He asked as he slowly cut a bite out of the omelet with a knife.

"Yes," she said with a hint of a laugh. Not seeming to quite trust her, Mr. Kofi was slow at taking the bite. But when he did, his eyes lit up. "So I assume it's good?" Alane asked after he'd taken another bite.

"This is by far the best dish I've ever tasted in this class," he said, a little teary eyed. He paused for a second before waving her towards the door. "You're done cooking, no point in hanging around here. Go do whatever it is you kids do between classes."

After thanking him, Alane returned to her station and grabbed her backpack before leaving the classroom. As the door shut behind her, she spotted another student bringing a rather brown looking omelet towards Mr. Kofi.

From cooking, Alane headed to the cafeteria. Lunch was just being served when she arrived and there weren't many people present. But the food being served just didn't look appetizing compared to that omelet, so rather than get in line, she got a little bag of trail mix from the vending machine and a coffee before sitting down to work on geometry homework.

When people began to file into the cafeteria, seemed everyone was trying to keep their distance from her. The one time she looked up from her homework, she saw Rob eyeing her warily from his table. She assumed the word had spread that she'd beaten up the entire wrestling team.

Good. Now she had her own table.

The thought had scarcely left her mind when Ford sat down across from her. He looked a bit nervous and shaky. "Mind if I sit here?" He asked after he'd already sat, his voice wavering slightly.

"I don't mind," she said with a friendly smile before looking back down at the problem she was trying to solve. "Probably won't be the best of company though."

Silence fell over the table after that, the only noise being that from the other tables. It grew so quiet that Alane had actually begun to think Ford had left, that is until he cleared his throat. When she looked up at him, he was tapping his index fingers together nervously. "So," he said after a moment, straightening his glasses before returning to his finger tapping. "I was, ah, wondering if you'd like to do something this weekend?" His face reddened a bit as he asked this.

"What do you have in mind?" Alane asked, tilting her head.

He rubbed the back of his neck with one six-fingered hand, face reddening even more. "You could come to my dorm to study?" He suggested. "We could help each other prepare for that geometry test on Monday."

She considered this for a moment before nodding. "Sure," she said, and Ford visibly brightened. "What time should I come over?"

"How about around six tomorrow night?" He suggested.

Alane had to pause a second to think. Tomorrow was Saturday- did she have anything to do? She didn't think so, so she nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. It's a date," she said with a smile before returning to her work.

"Yeah, a date. It's a date," Ford said happily as he stood up from the table, and without saying another word, left Alane to her studying. He hadn't brought any food to the table.

 

The next night, Alane stood outside Ford's dorm at six-oh-two. She took a deep breath before knocking on the dark wood door before her. She'd scarcely stopped before Ford threw open the door, looking happy and a little relieved. "Come in, come in!" He said happily, ushering her inside. "Pardon the mess, Fiddleford likes to keep his work spread out."

Alane wasn't too sure of what Ford was talking about. The room was relatively spotless, aside from a desk in the far corner. On it were a few piles of neatly stacked papers and the blueprint Fiddleford had made of the portable computer. But that was the only thing in the least bit messy.

The rest of the room was really quaint. There were two beds, both of them made but one completely wrinkle-free, a dresser with action figures atop it and posters of various people all over the walls in one half of the room. Alane spotted a few familiar faces on them, including her old pal Leonardo.

"These your posters?" She asked, walking over and looking at the one of her old friend. "They're cool."

"Yeah, they're mine," he said happily as he walked over. He followed her gaze to the Leonardo De Vinci poster. "You a fan of his?"

"Oh yes," she told him with a knowing smile. "It's like he's an old friend of mine."

Ford smiled at her, clearly not assuming anything along the lines of her having actually known the man. "So," Ford said after a moment, "here's what I thought we could do first..."

By the clock on the wall, the two of them studied for almost three hours. Fiddleford popped in at one point, but only to grab a notebook of his before returning to the library. Then she and Ford were left alone once again.

Alane was actually having a reasonable amount of fun studying with Ford. Given both their intellects, all the problems they had to solve were incredibly easy to figure out. And, since there was no real need to finish everything that night, they'd get to chatting every so often. At one point Ford mentioned something funny and they spent the next ten minutes trying to stop laughing. Alane couldn't remember the last time she'd enjoyed herself that much.

"Now, if we carry the two here..." Ford was saying, but Alane was only half listening now. She had a weird feeling in her head and it took a moment for her to place it. When she did, a pang of joy but also annoyance shot through her. "Hold that thought," she said, standing up and turning around as she did so. At the same time, she pulled her mobile phone prototype from her pocket. "Someone's calling me. I'll just be a minute," she promised before dashing out into the hall.

To her relief, the hall was deserted, but she flipped the phone open and held it to her ear nonetheless. "Hello?" She said into the phone, her yellow eyes piercing through the dim light of the hall.

"Hello, hello, kid," Bill's voice rang through her mind. "You started to miss me yet?"

"I'm kinda busy right now, Bill," she said, her voice about a whisper. "Do you need something?"

Though the dream demon was currently in her mind rather than appearing to her- if he were appearing, the world would've gone gray and she would be asleep standing up -she knew he was probably making a fake-disappointed expression. "I thought you'd be happy to hear from me. We haven't spoken since your first day," he said in mild offence. "What? Nearing fourteen thousand mean you're too old for your old pal Bill?"

She sighed. "I am happy to hear from you, but now just really isn't a good time for me."

"I get it. You're too busy playing Romeo and Juliet with Sixer in there." He ended with a harsh laugh that rang through her head, making Alane wince.

"It's nothing like that." She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "We're just studying for a test is all. Look, I'll talk to you later, all right? But I gotta go." Before Bill could protest, she pushed him from her mind and mentally blocked him out. As she did, her eyes returned to their usual blue.

A moment later, Alane reopened the door and entered Ford's dorm, closing her phone as she did so. "Sorry about that," she apologized as she settled back down on the floor. "My step dad always calls at the worst times."

"Did you make that phone?" Ford asked, eyeing her little gizmo curiously.

"I did," she told him happily, handing it to him so he could look at it. "It's the prototype for a mobile phone. Works well enough, but I'm not ready to show it off to the public yet."

Ford turned the phone over in his hands, eyes alight with interested. "You and Fiddleford should hang out more," he eventually said. "Mobile phones, portable computers... You two would get along great." He ended with a chuckle as he handed the phone back.

"Eh," she muttered, pocketing the phone before returning to the math problems. "I get the feeling he doesn't enjoy my sense of humor very much. I don't think it'd be smart to spend too much time with him; I may drive him insane." She grinned to herself as she wrote out the answer to a problem.

The room fell silent, aside from the scratch of pencil on paper, and a few moments went by before it occurred to her that Ford had stopped working. She looked up in confusion, only to find him looking at her with a strange expression. "What?" She asked. "Is there a bug on me or something?" The slogan for the college was "mostly bug-free dorms" so it wouldn't surprise her.

He shook his head. "No, I'm just... thinking," he eventually said.

"About what?" Alane set down her pencil and looked at him.

"About how to ask you if you have a boyfriend." Ford's eyes were narrowed and his mouth tight, as if he wasn't sure why he was even saying that.

Alane was a little taken aback. "Well, since you did just sorta ask, no I don't have a boyfriend." She looked down at her hands. "Not for a really long time, anyways."

"Well." Ford was tapping his fingers together again as he fought to avoid Alane's gaze. "If I don't have a girlfriend and you don't have a boyfriend, then maybe..." He stopped talking when Alane started to shake her head slowly. His face reddened. "Oh. I... I get it," he said quietly.

"I'm really sorry, Ford," Alane sighed, rubbing her face wearily. Suddenly she was very tired. "Please don't think I don't like you. I really do! It's just... this would never work out between us." It was as if she could see the poor guy's heart breaking. She just hoped he understood.

"It's because I'm a freak, isn't it?" He suddenly asked.

"W-What?" Alane stammered in surprise.

Ford held his hands out in front of him, looking at them scornfully. "It's because of my six fingers, right? That's the reason everyone's given me before when I've tried to ask girls out or even just make friends." He stood up, balling his fists.

"No, Ford, that isn't why," Alane said, feeling incredibly bad for hurting him so much. She got to her feet. "It's more of an age gap thing."

"Age gap?" Ford looked at her questioningly. "We can't be more than two years apart. How is that a problem?"

"Believe me, the gap is a _lot_ more than two years," she said with a slight frown. After a short pause, she sighed quietly. "I really didn't mean to upset you, Ford. I just think things would be better off between us if we stick to being friends. Let's not complicate it."

They both fell silent at this. Ford was looking away from Alane, who was staring at him, desperate for the boy to understand. But as the seconds ticked by and no one spoke, Alane figured it was time to make her leave. No reason to stick around and ruin whatever friendship they have left.

She picked up her math work and shoved it in her backpack before slinging the bag over her shoulder. "I'd better go," she murmured. Ford didn't respond as she walked towards the door. Once there she called over her shoulder, "See you later." Before leaving the room.

She imagined Ford turning around as she shut the door, realizing he'd overreacted. She pictured him throwing it open and running after her, apologizing for freaking out and saying he'd be happy with just being friends.

But Ford didn't open the door. He didn't come after her. Alane walked the whole way back to her building, feeling increasingly bad about breaking Ford's heart. And by the time she reached the door to her dorm, a tear was rolling down her cheek.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another awkward chapter. *throws glitter*

Sunday came and went and Alane saw no sign of Ford. He was probably avoiding her, and she understood why. He probably needed some space after the night before.

On Monday however, she still hadn't seen him. He wasn't in geometry, actually ended up missing the test, nor was he at breakfast or lunch. By the time dinner came around, Alane was starting to worry. She decided to take matters into her own hands and hunt Ford down. She no longer cared if he wanted space; the guy was upset because she had unintentionally hurt him, and she intended on putting things right before their friendship became but a distant memory.

She headed straight to the cafeteria after her last class. She was scarcely through the doors when she spotted Fiddleford at his and Ford's usual table. After scanning the dinner line and not seeing Ford there, she went over to the table. Maybe Fiddleford would know where he was.

Fiddleford looked up in mild annoyance when she sat down, but quickly returned his attention to his robotics book. "Ford said he was skipping dinner," he told her with a huff, clearly realizing why she was there.

"So he's at your dorm?" She clarified.

"Now, I didn't say that." He looked up at her, pausing before saying, "If you're lookin' for Ford, odds are you'll find him walkin' around the campus. He does it when he's thinkin'. There's a route he follows that goes by the woods." He looked back down at the book. "If you go now you can probably intercept him there."

Alane shot the boy a thin smile as she stood. "Thanks, Ford Point Two," she said, hearing him grumble with annoyance as she started walking away.

She quickly left the cafeteria, feeling relieved to be leaving the crowded building. But once outside, she started to long for the building's heating as she was hit with a chilly breeze.

Wrapping her arms around her middle as if giving herself a hug, Alane started out onto the dark campus. At the far edge of the lawn, the black silhouettes of trees loomed, marking the edge of the forest.

 _Ford could've picked a less creepy place for a nighttime stroll,_ she thought with disdain as she neared the trees. The shadows they cast on the ground by light of the moon resembled hands reaching towards her. _This is definitely a place more suitable for a horror movie, rather a peaceful walk._

She stopped walking once she reached a path, made barely visible by a layer of brown leaves. A gust of icy wind hit her as she looked up and down the path for a sign of Ford. A shiver ran up her spine from the cold, and she closed her eyes, momentarily wishing she'd brought a jacket.

When she reopened them, however, all thoughts of the cold were gone as she spotted a figure walking along the path towards her. She felt a smile creep onto her face as she began to walk over to them. But upon seeing her, the figure turned around and began to walk quickly in the other direction.

 _Don't you dare walk away from me,_ Alane thought with a grumble, picking up the pace. She easily caught up with him, and when she did she cut in front of Ford, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

"Why are you following me?" Ford asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. He wore his usual blue shirt and sweater vest, along with a long dusty-brown coat and jeans. He seemed perfectly warm, where as Alane still occasionally shivered against the wind.

"I wanted to talk," she told him. "You weren't in class today or the cafeteria, so I asked Fiddleford where I could find you."

"What is there to talk about?" He asked in a similar tone before sighing. "Look, I know I overreacted a bit the other night. I shouldn't have even brought it up. And I understand you don't feel the same way about me, but... I just need a little bit of space right now to get my head straight."

Alane shifted on her feet awkwardly. "It's not that I don't feel the same way about you, Ford. I really like you! But there's something else that, well, I'm not sure if you'd understand." Ford looked at her questioningly, but she avoided his gaze.

A silence stretched out after that, broken only by the sound of the trees swaying in the wind. Eventually though, Ford nodded at her before saying quietly, "I've been putting you a bit on the spot lately," he murmured. "I'm sorry about that. You don't have to tell me your reasons if you don't want to." Ford turned to go.

Alane was overcome with indecision as he began to walk away. _Should I tell him?_ She wondered helplessly. _Will he understand? What if he doesn't? Things didn't go well last time people found out..._

Ford hadn't gotten too far before Alane blurted out, "I'm not human!"

He stopped in his tracks, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow. Alane hung her head, tightening her arms around her torso. "I'm not... human," she murmured again.

When she heard Ford's footsteps approaching her again, she didn't look up. She was scared to see his reaction. Would he believe her? Or would he think she was pulling his leg? And if he did believe her, what would he do? She wasn't entirely sure if pitchfork-armed mobs were out of style or not.

"That..." Ford started slowly from right in front of her. Alane glanced up, find him to be looking at her thoughtfully. "That actually explains a lot."

"Y-You believe me?" She stammered in shock. "And you're not afraid?"

"Why would I be?" He asked with a lopsided grin. "If you had any intention of harming me, you would've done it by now."

Ford began to walk around her, his hands pressed together in front of him in a contemplating gesture. "If you're not a human though, what are you?" He asked as he stopped in front of her again. His eyes were alight with curiosity. "You look human enough. Are you wearing some sort of cloaking device that makes you appear like this, so as to blend in?"

"I'm not really sure what I am," Alane said with a sigh. "Bi- I mean, my step dad, and I have never been able to figure it out." She offered Ford a small grin. "He's not exactly human either. And no, I just look like this."

The boy looked very surprised. "You don't know what you are?" He asked. "That must be awful. If I didn't know what I was or where I came from, why, I'd be spending every waking moment trying to find out."

Alane rubbed one of her arms self-consciously. Ford was taking this a lot better than she expected. "I try not to think about it too much. I focus mainly on getting through each day without letting it slip I'm of a different species." She let out a short laugh. "Always thought if people knew I wasn't like them, they'd freak out. But you're taking this a lot better than I thought you would."

"I have been a fan of the supernatural and paranormal since I was a kid," Ford said with a shaky laugh. "I've always suspected there must be more out there than just what we've discovered; extraordinary creatures that compete with, or even surpass, humans on levels of intelligence. The fact that you're living proof of this? I'm trying not to hyperventilate." 

Ford straightened his glasses before continuing, "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to document some things about you? Just things that set you apart from humans." He offered her a smile. "Maybe, given enough time, I could even figure out what you are?"

Her heart rate seemed to speed up as she processed what Ford had just said. "Y-You really think so?" She asked, eyes wide with hope.

"I guarantee it," Ford said with a confident nod. 

Alane was frozen for a second with a combination of excitement and pure joy. Ford was looking at her funny when she suddenly darted forward and gave him a hug, picking the boy a few inches off the ground in her excitement. When she let go and stepped away from them, Ford wore an expression of surprise. "Thank you," she said with a genuine smile. "Just the _possibility_ of getting to know what I am is more than I could've ever hoped for."

"N-No prob," Ford said with a dismissive wave before folding his arms. He seemed a little surprised about having just left the ground. After a second though, he seemed to recover himself and straightened his glasses once again. "Think you could come by my dorm tomorrow? Or is that too soon to start this?"

"Isn't soon enough," Alane replied with a grin before nodding. "I'll be there around this time tomorrow."

Ford shot her an excited smile before motioning with his head towards the dorms. "It's getting late; we should both probably head back." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Want me to walk you back to your dorm?"

"Your dorm is on the other side of campus, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you-" Ford cut her off with a quick shake of his head. "No, no, it's fine," he assured her. "You walked all the way out here to find me. Seems only right to walk you back."

Smiling, she put her hands in her pockets. "Alright then, if you insist," she said with a hint of a laugh before the two of them started back off towards the dorms.

Once away from the forest, a thick and easy silence fell between them. _This is better,_ Alane thought to herself with a smile as they walked down the deserted path. _No tension, no secrets. Just two buddies on a walk._ Her smile wavered however when something occurred to her. _Oh gosh, I can't believe I told Ford. And he's taking it well? How is Bill gonna react to this?_

Her thoughts were cut short as another shiver overtook her. Ford glanced over at her, seeming a little surprised and a bit embarrassed. "Are you cold?" He asked, slowing his pace.

"A bit," Alane admitted. "But I'm fine. My dorm isn't too much fur-" She cut herself off mid-sentence as Ford suddenly took his coat off and put it over her shoulders. The hem of the dusty-brown coat touched the ground, being way too big for her. Alane looked over at Ford, surprise written clearly on her face.

Ford was standing there looking as awkward as she felt. "Ah, sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Stanley just always told me to give a girl my jacket, or in this case my coat, if they're cold."

"Its a sweet gesture, Ford. But that's really more like something you do on a date. And you must understand that that's out of the question, right?" She offered him a small, questioning smile.

"I'm actually a little confused as to why it is." Ford's eyes were narrowed and his hands pressed together in front of his face. "I understand that you're not human, but if I like you and you like me, why should it prevent us from being together?"

"Because I don't age like humans do, Ford," Alane sighed. "I'm nearing fourteen thousand years old." Ford's eyes widened in surprise. "If we started dating and it became a long term thing, don't you think it'd be weird, you being in your twenties and me still looking like I belong in high school? Even when you've grown old, I'll still look like I do now.

"Being strictly friends is the only way I can think of to keep things from getting too complicated or weird," she continued. "And I'd really like to be your friend. Assuming you're fine with keeping things purely platonic?"

Ford was silent a moment before nodding. "Like I'd actually end this friendship because you didn't want to date," he said with a laugh before he started walking again. "But I'm not taking my coat back."

With a relieved smile, she followed him. Alane had honestly been afraid their friendship would end, given Ford's previous reaction to her turning him down. But, she figured, guess telling him her reasons helped him to accept it.

It wasn't too much longer until they returned to her dorm. Once they were standing in front of the steps, Alane took Ford's coat off and handed it back to him. "Thank you for walking me back," she told him with a smile. "You're a real gentleman."

Ford blushed as he accepted his coat, draping it over his arms before hugging it to his front. "It was nothing," he said dismissively before adjusting his glasses and looking at her with a questioning expression. "So, you'll be coming over tomorrow?"

"Yeah, right around dinner," she replied with an excited smile.

The boy looked equally excited. "Great. I can't wait," he said giddily before seeming to calm himself and saying, "Well, goodnight, Alane." He turned to leave.

"Wait," Alane said, stopping him. He looked back at her in confusion. "You've got something on your cheek."

"Really?" He moved his coat to his left arm and began trying to wipe off whatever it was Alane saw. "What is it?"

"Me," she said before standing on her tip-toes and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Ford instantly blushed at her touch, but she soon backed away from him and quickly headed up the steps.

"I-I thought you said we're strictly friends?" He stammered as he watched her head up to the door.

"There are many cultures where that is considered just being friendly or thankful towards someone," Alane said with a grin as she pulled open the door. "Goodnight, Ford."

Alane pulled the door shut behind her before rushing up the stairs to her room. Once there, she entered before sliding to the floor against her door, a smile on her face.


	8. Chapter 8

_I told Ford. I told him what I am and told him some of what I can do. Okay, I guess I told him what I_ wasn't. _I don't know what I was thinking._

Alane sat on her bed, curled in a ball as she wrote in her diary. Her heart still pounded quickly in her chest with fright and excitement that lingered after her and Ford's exchange. There was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep feeling like this, so she'd decided to make an entry.

_I've never told anyone before. I always played the part of a plain and proper teenage girl. I... Well, I assumed that, upon finding out, Ford would be shocked, horrified even. I was, and still am, surprised that he took it in stride. In fact, he wants me to meet up with him and run some tests. He said it wouldn't be anything too tough, so I've agreed to meet him tomorrow night._

_Ford says he can help me figure out just what exactly I am. My entire life, I've lived not knowing whether I was a mutant human, an alien or even a demon. The fact that Ford might be able to help me figure it out... I've never been this happy. I truly owe him a lot for even trying._ She paused a second, pen to her lips as she thought. After a moment, she added: _Side note: I met Ford's roommate, Fiddleford McGucket. He is friendly enough and very bright. I'm calling him Ford Point Two just to mess with the guys._

Sure, she'd technically met Fiddleford first, but she hadn't yet mentioned him in her entries. She figured late was better than never.

After reading over her page-long entry, Alane closed her diary and set it on her bed. It wasn't even a second later that the world around her burred, the color draining from everything but herself. With a short burst of yellow light and a quiet _'pop!'_ , Bill appeared floating in front of her.

"Bill!" She greeted happily, jumping from her bed. "You'll never guess what just happened! I-"

The triangle cut her off by holding up a hand. After a second he lowered it and shot her a pointed look. "I saw the whole thing," he said, annoyance clear in his tone. "Or, at least, I watched until I had to go throw up in disgust. What were you thinking, kid?"

"I... I just didn't want to lie to him anymore," Alane said slowly. "I broke the guy's heart, and I felt like keeping this all a secret would just result in even more pain."

Bill floated closer to her. "This will not turn out the way you want it to, Alane," he said, actually using her name. He didn't normally do that unless he was being serious, so she naturally tensed up upon hearing it. "There is no possible way it could! I get that you like the fleshbag, but you and him could never work. It'll be just like last time: things will be going great until you realize he's been aging and you haven't, and then he'll die and you'll go into a funk for a hundred years!"

Alane shook her head. "I get that things can never work between myself and Ford," she said. "But this isn't about that! Bill, he said he could figure out what I am!"

It seemed to Alane that Bill froze up upon hearing that, at least for a second. But he was back to normal too quick to tell. With a dismissive wave, he rolled his one eye. "The humans don't have that kinda tech yet, kid. There are so many similarities between you and the fleshbags that any 'tests' will just show you being one of them! And we both know that isn't true.

"The most Fordsy can do is write down everything about you; all your strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, stuff that's dangerous for people to know. Remember that witch hunt awhile back?" Alane nodded slowly. "If they had had a book that told them you were afraid of the dark, don't you think they would've come for you in the night? Things like that give the fleshbags an advantage over you."

"I'm not afraid of the dark," she muttered. "And the 'fleshbags' aren't all bad! Sure, every now and then I meet some that are a little... Murdery. But Ford isn't one of them. He'd never use what he learns to hurt me, nor would he let anyone else!" She offered Bill a small smile. "I trust him, Bill."

Bill rubbed his eye wearily. "Just don't say I didn't warn ya, kid," he muttered. A second later he vanished, and Alane returned to the waking world.

 

Soon after Bill's appearance, Alane turned in for the night. She still found it difficult to drift off, but she eventually did. The next morning though, all her excitement was back, and she found herself dreading having to attend her classes.

By the time they were all finally over with, Alane skipped dinner and went straight to Ford's dorm. She passed Fiddleford on the way and they exchanged greetings, but it was clear that they were both in a hurry so they kept it short.

When Alane was finally, after what seemed like years, standing outside of Ford's door, she was overcome with nerves. _What if Bill is right?_ She wondered, hand positioned in front of the door as she prepared to knock. _What if Ford can't do anything to help me? What if this is all just a waste of both of our times?_

Alane knocked on the door.

It was as if Ford had been waiting for her just inside. She hadn't even stopped knocking before he threw open the door, eyes alight with excitement. "Good! You're here," he said, ushering her inside.

The dorm looked the same as last time, aside from Fiddleford's stuff being considerably more messy. Alane stopped in the center of the room, Ford closing the door then walking in front of her. He held a notebook and pen at the ready, and looked as if he were trying very hard to keep his cool.

"So," he started after a second. "I thought we could take things a little slow today; I can't really begin to figure out what you are until I know the differences between yourself and humans." He raised his notebook and pen. "You up for some questions?"

Alane offered him a crooked smile. "Sure. I'll answer them as best as I can."

Ford motioned for her to sit, so she sat down on his bed as he pulled the desk chair over. Once he was sitting, he flipped open the notebook and looked at her eagerly. "I know you said you naturally look like a human, but are there any psychical differences that set you apart from us?"

"Well," she started off slowly, considering this. "There may be differences internally that I don't know about. But besides that, the only thing that comes to mind are the tattoos."

Ford had been scribbling on the notebook, seemed as if he were writing down word-for-word what she said, when he suddenly looked up. "Tattoos?" He questioned.

"Yeah, the tattoos." Alane held her hands out, opening them so the tattoos on her palms were exposed. Ford looked at them with unmasked interest. "I thought you would've seen them by now. I don't really put much effort into concealing them," she laughed.

"I don't make a habit of studying peoples' hands," Ford said in his defense as he scooted closer in the chair and began to sketch the tattoos in his notebook.

Alane grinned. "Focus more on peoples' faces, huh?" She asked, remembering her and Fiddleford's earlier conversation.

"Guess you could say that," he said, and Alane noted that he was blushing a bit. He continued to sketch for a minute before turning the notebook towards Alane. "Does this look accurate to you?"

She took the notebook from him and held it next to her empty hand. The image he'd drawn looked near identical. "It looks perfect," she told him, handing the notebook back.

"Good," he said, grinning at his drawing before looking back up. "I've got some books on mutation and the paranormal. I figured I could go through them and see if I can find anything similar to these 'tattoos.'

"Now," he continued, flipping the page on his notebook as he began to write. "I understand that you don't age like we do, and you seem a bit stronger than the average human, given that you picked me up and beat the whole wrestling team." He glanced up at her. "Is there anything else out of the ordinary that you can do?"

Alane nodded. "I can heal faster than the average human, but only to an extent. Like, if I get a cut on my arm, it's healed up like that." She snapped her fingers. "But something fatal, like a bullet through the head, or being cut open? Those would _most likely_ kill me."

Ford had been writing the entire time she spoke, but now he looked up with an odd expression. "Say one of your arms gets cut off," he said. "Would you be able to reattach it? Or would wherever it was cut through heal over? Or would you just grow a new arm entirely?"

She shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. Never really lost a limb before."

Ford seemed to consider this before he began to write again.

Alane waited until Ford had finished writing before she said, "I can do a few random things, too. Like remember pretty much everything. I also sorta pick up skills real easily, and by that I mean I pick them up just by watching someone else do them. Oh, and I'm a good judge of character. Not really sure if that's to be considered special, though."

"So, you have an enhanced memory and a form of adoptive muscle memory," Ford mused. "Is there anything else?"

"Well, I can do this?" Alane snapped and a little wisp of light appeared above her fingers, glowing a soft yellow color. Ford's eyes widened in surprise and awe. "Not very useful, but for nighttime reading. And I can shape-shift."

Ford was clearly surprised about this, for he sat back against his chair and looked at her wide-eyed. "Shape-shift? Are you being serious?" He asked shakily.

In response, Alane morphed into Ford right before his eyes. His mouth hung open slightly in utter amazement as Alane shot him a six-fingered wave. 

"This- I don't- how-" he stammered, dropping his pen as he stood up. Alane stood up opposite, her expression completely lax but for a tiny smirk at the corner of her mouth. She'd expected this sort of reaction.

"This is extraordinary!" Ford finally exclaimed when he seemed to recover himself. He looked her up and down, eyes shining. "You look exactly like me!"

"Well, not exactly," she said in Ford's voice as she exposed her palms to him. "The tattoos never change."

Ford studied the tattoos a moment before shrugging slightly, putting one hand to his elbow and the other by his face. "Odd. But nonetheless, this is amazing!" He seemed to realize then that he'd dropped his pen, and quickly knelt down to pick it up before poising to write in the notebook again. "So. Can you only change into humans or human-like creatures? Or can you change into anything?"

"I can change into anything, but I find humans easiest," Alane said as she morphed back into herself, losing a whole foot of height, before sitting back down on the bed. "As for odd abilities? That's it. Nothing real interesting, like flight or lazer-vision," she laughed.

"I think shape shifting is a pretty interesting ability," Ford commented with a grin as he continued to scribble in his notebook.

For the next few hours, Ford quizzed Alane on all things about her. He covered every topic from how she reacted in certain situations and if they were similar to human reactions, to even though she didn't seem to psychically age like humans, did she ever get taller. By the time Alane decided to head back to her dorm, Ford's notebook was practically half full of things he'd written down about her.

Now Alane stood in the doorway, about to leave. Ford stood just inside his room, still holding his precious little notebook and pen. "If you're up to it, I'd like to run some psychical tests," Ford suggested. "I don't mean doctor's appointment sort of things, of course. Just basic endurance tests; how fast you can run and how far, how strong you are, that sort of thing."

She nodded, smiling. "Sounds good. Want to meet up between classes or after dinner?"

"After dinner would probably be best. Less people will be around to see you if you do something that's just a bit too amazing to be humanly possible." He chuckled before adding, "As soon as we cover the basics of what you can do and what sets you apart from humans, I can start scanning over my books for what you might be. With any luck, before you realize it we'll know what you are."

Alane's entire body seemed to buzz with excitement. "Thank you again, Ford," she said with a smile. "What you're doing for me here... I can never repay you for all this."

Her friend waved dismissively and looked away, though she noted the smile on his face. The guy was so easily flattered. "Don't mention it," he told her. "I've wanted the chance to learn more about the paranormal since I was a little kid. This?" He laughed happily. "It's like a dream come true."

She smiled once again. Ford's acceptance and actual excitement over all this... It was more than she could've ever hoped for. Maybe other humans would be like this if she ever became open about what she was? "Goodnight, Ford," she said to her friend as she happily considered the possibility.

"Goodnight," he replied. Alane pulled the door shut a moment later, and with a happy sigh, began her way back to her dorms.


	9. Chapter 9

Things weren't going as he had planned.

Bill was floating behind Alane as she took notes in her geometry class. He watched her in mild annoyance, knowing no one could see or hear him, so as long as he refrained from entering someone's mind. His plan, as he reminded himself, had been so _simple!_ How had the rotten little sack of flesh and guts messed things up so badly?

He hadn't cared about Alane attending college. Heck, she could go back to drag racing for all it mattered to him. But for his elaborate plan to create a portal so he could cross over into the dimension psychically, he needed someone to willingly build the portal _for_ him. Alane was the clear option for this, but the girl asked far too many questions. She wouldn't work until he told her exactly what his plans were; and he knew she was the kind of person to ask questions more than once to see if you'd give her the same answer. If he wanted to keep up the charade that he was an "honest demon who looked out for her," then he needed to find someone else to do this for him, so as not to lose her trust. Besides, the girl and her abilities could come in handy in the future.

The dream demon had been trying to come up with a solution to this problem when he'd overheard some people gossiping about a local genius named Stanford Pines. The boy, Bill had found out, was actually a genius. He just had to make sure he was the right one for the job. So, after "borrowing" the flesh suit of one of Stanford's classmates to sabotage the device that'd get him into a high ranking college, an act that was imminently pinned on the boy's oaf brother, Bill made sure Alane would attend the same college after he'd gotten settled in. This way, not only could he keep an eye on the potentially useful human and his own personal fleshbag servant, but Alane could get to know the boy too. You learn much more about a person by befriending them, rather than through spying. 

But then the girl just _had_ to develop those disgusting romantic human emotions towards the boy, and they just _had_ to start working together to find out what she was. After the week of watching him, Bill knew that Stanford Pines was just as smart as those people had claimed him to be, maybe even more so. He knew that if he decided to go as far as to take a blood sample from Alane, he'd find out she was just human. And knowing Alane and how attached and emotional she could get, she'd believe the boy over anything he had to say in protest. The cat would be out of the bag. Not only would he lose all chance of making the portal, but also his perfectly oblivious servant.

"There has to be a way to make her leave the college," he thought out loud as he floated in front of the girl, who was focused intently on something just past him. If he could get her to leave, he might be able to salvage part of his plan. "I need a way to make her leave and drop all connection to old six fingers. She's deceived easily enough... A dream, maybe?" It was a long shot at best. The girl may not be able to see through his lies, but even a human could tell reality apart from a dream.

But what else could he do? Without a psychical form and the rift between dimensions getting smaller by the minute, there wasn't a lot he could do without some sort of assistance; it's why he needed someone to create the portal for him in the first place. A dream was his best bet. He just had to make it convincing and at just the right moment...

"Enjoy this while you can, kid," Bill said as Alane returned to taking notes. Her obliviousness towards his presence was almost funny. "Pretty soon, you'll hate Stanford so much you'll never want to see him again.


	10. Chapter 10

It was Wednesday, and the only class she had on Wednesday was geometry. So after a particularly boring lesson, Alane waited for Ford outside after class while he gathered up his textbooks. When he finally came out into the hall, they exchanged a short greeting before they both started walking to Ford's next lecture.

"I figured you could look for a place for us to run these experiments at while I attend history," Ford was saying. "The majority of it will be tests on your endurance, and we'll need a little more space than a dormitory to do that in."

She nodded along as he spoke. "I figured that, and I've actually already got an idea. How often are there people by where that path skirts the woods?"

"Not often. I'm usually the only one out there after dinner."

"I think that would be a good place for all this," she continued. "The gym blocked it for the most part when I was looking for you the other day, and at night with no one specifically looking for us, we'll be easily overlooked if anyone _did_ happen to walk by."

"Good as anywhere else, I suppose," he said. "You should go check the place out while I'm in class. I'll meet you there once I get out."

Now, about ten minutes later, Alane was walking across campus towards where the path skirted the forest. It was a sunny day and the trees that had reminded her of creeping hands a few nights ago now just looked like normal trees. Completely harmless and covered in leaves and moss.

 _Just wait, they'll be creepy again come tonight,_ she thought with a small frown as she walked. Maybe the woods wasn't the best place... After all, she'll need complete concentration if she wants to do everything within her best ability. If she were freaked out by the shadows and creaking limbs, she might mess something up.

She stopped in her tracks and shook herself slightly, as if to dispel the thoughts. _I need to stop being such a baby,_ she thought with a huff. _They're just trees and at night it'll just be shadows. I'll be fine if we do stick around here. And who knows? Ford may not like it, and suggest a different place anyway._

Alane had started to walk again, now lost in thought, and didn't even notice the person walking towards her until she nearly ran into him. "Sorry," she said apologetically, raising her hands up in front of her as she backed up.

"No problem," a familiar voice said. It took Alane a moment to realize it was Rob standing in front of her. "I was looking for you, kid."

"Don't call me 'kid,'" she muttered, glaring at him. The boy no longer wore his gym outfit, and was now dressed in typical clothes. Probably why she didn't realize it was him at first. "And what do you want? Another match? Because I can beat up the wrestling team again if that's what you want. As long as it doesn't interfere with my class schedule, of course."

He uttered a short, humorless laugh. "Though I'd love to see a tiny chick like yourself beat the crud out of those idiots on my team, no one is interested in a rematch right now. But the last match _is_ sorta what I wanted to talk to you about."

She raised an eyebrow. "What? You think I was cheating or something?"

"No, I think you're really just that good. And I wanna know how." Rob had an odd glint in his eye as he said this. Alane prided herself at being able to read people, but she honestly couldn't place his look. It was like curiosity but just... More sinister, she supposed.

"When you're built small like I am, you have to learn to use your opponent's size against them. Their momentum, their stance, anything can be used to take them down if you use your brain."

The corner of his mouth flickered up into a grin. "I don't really follow," he said.

She sighed heavily. _Forgot not everyone was as smart as Ford._ "Every person has their own fighting techniques," Alane said slowly. "You may all be using similar moves, but everyone holds themselves differently, stands differently, _thinks_ differently. You can easily tell someone's weak point by studying them and their demeanor, and you can predict their next move by watching their face. Oftentimes, people don't bother to wear a poker face when fighting, so you can tell exactly what they're thinking.

"What I do," she continued, "is I pinpoint a weak spot. If someone holds themselves a certain way, odds are it could be an old injury. Next, I determine how they think and whether they use quickness or brute force or size, and if there's a pattern to their fighting. After that, I either predict their next move and go for their weak spot, or, usually when they're using brute force or size, I use their own strength to take them down. It's easy. You just sort of wait for them to come at you and duck out of the way, maybe propel them a bit more with a kick or push. They typically fall, and are as a result dazed because when larger people fall it hurts a lot, I guess." She shrugged.

Rob considered this a moment as he stood there, arms folded. After a few seconds he chuckled and dropped his arms to his side. "Where'd a little kid like you learn how to do all that?" He asked. That look was back on his face, and it unnerved her a bit.

"My stepdad," Alane responded evenly. "Now, if you don't mind, I've sorta got some place to be-" she'd begun to walk past Rob when he suddenly grabbed her arm. Tensing up, she looked at her arm, to his hand, to his face.

"Why don't you come back to the gym sometime, huh?" He suggested, his previous grin widening a bit. "You've already got the entire team wetting their pants. If you stuck with me, not only would you have fear factor, but you'd be in with my crowd." He paused to laugh. "As is, hanging out with that six fingered freak is really killing your reputation."

She yanked her arm away from him, glaring. "Ford is no more a freak that you are a likable person," she said stiffly. "Now, touch me again, and I'll break your arm."

Alane started to walk away, but Rob kept pace besides her, just a little too close for comfort. "Oh, I get it. You've got a thing for him, huh?" He said this as if it were the funniest thing in the world. Alane didn't reply. _"Wow_ that's pretty pathetic!"

"Do you want to know what's _really_ pathetic?" She retorted, stopping and glaring at his smirking face. "You having no friends. Because if you did, you wouldn't need to bug me like this to occupy yourself, you'd be hanging out with them."

The guy seemed sorta surprised. He stared at her a moment before chuckling. "You've got a lot of spunk for such a small chick."

"My name is Alane," she said through gritted teeth, "not 'kid,' or 'chick,' or anything else. Use my name when you talk to me, or don't talk to me at all."

"Can't a guy just have a friendly conversation with a cute girl?" He asked innocently.

"Not when the girl isn't particularly fond of you and has somewhere to be," she responded curtly before turning on her heel and stomping off.

She could feel Rob's eyes on her as she walked across the campus and around the curve of the gym building. His gaze seemed to be burning into her back until she reached the cool cover of the trees. But even then she still felt a little off.

 _Why was Rob acting like that?_ She wondered, shifting on her feet a bit. _It was like, I dunno, he thought I was interested in him or something?_ Alane rubbed the side of her face wearily. _This "college experience" sure is shaping up to be an overall confusing and weird time._

The way Rob had been acting still unnerved her a bit, however. _Waiting here for Ford for an hour isn't all too appealing to me anyway,_ she thought as she looked around at the trees. _Maybe I have time for some exploring while he's in class?_ Alane considered this a moment before stepping over a tree root and walking into the forest.

The place that had previously seemed so dark and foreboding to her looked straight out of a fairy tale during the day. Branches shook above her in the breeze, casting dappled light onto the leaf-strewn ground below. Every so often, a small patch of wildflowers or sweet smelling vegetation would sprout up at the base of a tree. The air was filled with birdsong and the scampering of small animals, and up ahead a tiny stream flowed over rocks, the running water adding an even more peaceful feel to the place.

Feeling much more relaxed now, Alane stepped over the small stream and continued on her way, eyes alight as she looked around her. Before the college, she'd spent most of her time in some woods just outside of town. It'd become like a home to her over the past few years. But it wasn't until now that she realized how much she'd missed seeing scenery like this each day.

After a few minutes of walking, the ground slowly began to slope up and the trees thinned out. The next moment, Alane emerged into a small clearing on a hill. A tree whose trunk had been split into two grew ahead of her, just off center of the grassy slope. Beneath its branches was a small shaded place with noticeably less green grass than the rest of the hill, and a few completely bare patches where dirt could be seen. 

Her eyes roamed over the clearing for a moment before she walked the rest of the incline and arrived at the base of the split tree. It was a little short, Ford could probably touch the lower branches, but it worked fine for someone as small as Alane who just wanted a quiet spot to hang out for a bit. So, after looking up at the branches for a moment with a smile, she sat down and leaned against the trunk before pulling her notebook from her pocket.

 _Need to waste some time while I wait for Ford,_ she thought as she opened the notebook to the last entry she wrote; the one about having told Ford. _Might as well do some more writing._

 _I don't typically make entries this close together. Need to save space in this tiny book, you know?_ She wrote on the page in her familiar, curly writing. _But I have time to kill and I'm actually starting to enjoy writing these? Yeah, I know I've probably complained about making entries somewhere in here, but it's growing on me._

 _After meeting up with Ford last night, he wrote down practically everything about me that set myself apart from humans. There was actually a lot more than I realized? But with all that information to go off of, Ford said it would make finding out what I am a lot easier. Tonight, or, rather, in a few hours, Ford and I will start the first round of endurance tests. Should be more fun than answering questions for hours on end._ She chuckled to herself.

After reading over what she wrote as she looked for spelling mistakes, and rereading it again just to make sure, she decided to add another line. _I'm actually really starting to like Ford,_ she wrote slowly. _At first, I was hesitant about befriending humans. My friendships... they never end well. But I'm glad I gave Ford the chance. He's a sweet guy and I can already tell he'll be a lifelong friend._

With that, she returned her pen to her pocket and waited for the ink to dry a bit before shutting her book and standing up. She stretched her arms out, put her journal back in her pocket, brushed the dirt from her pants and started down the hill again. Ford would probably be out of class by now.

As she reached the cover of the woods again, she turned back towards the hill. The swaying branches and fragrant smells of the flowers, combined with the gorgeous sunlight made it seem almost magical. "I've found my hangout spot," she murmured, then smiled happily. Finally, a place to study that wasn't her dorm or around other people. A little slice of heaven for her.

Alane took her time walking back, pausing by the stream to look at some rocks and then stopping by every new wildflower afterwards. When she finally did come out of the woods and stepped back onto the path, she could see Ford walking across the campus towards her. Smiling happily at her approaching friend, she leaned up against a tree behind her.

"You're right, the gym blocks this place when you're by the main building," he said as he walked up. He still carried his backpack full of textbooks from his classes, like he'd come straight there rather than stopping at his dorm, which had been along the way. "It'll definitely work for what I had in mind."

She started to nod, but then something occurred to her. "Ah, actually, maybe we should find a new place," she suggested offhandedly.

"Why?" He asked in confusion, looking around as he slid his backpack from his shoulders and put it on the ground by his feet. "This spot seems perfect."

She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Rob sorta followed me across campus. He stopped at the gym, but, I dunno. He may have seen me come back here, and he could get suspicious if he sees me or you coming back here each night."

"Rob?" Ford asked, surprised as some other emotion flickered across his face. Was that jealousy Alane saw? "What did he want?"

She shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed as she wrapped her arms around her middle like she was giving herself a hug. "Oh, I don't know. He was telling me I should come hang out with him at the gym, and he just wouldn't really leave until I got mad and snapped at him." She looked at the ground, not sure why she was feeling so awkward about this. "He was being a bit rude. But it's fine, really. I just think we should find a new place in case he saw this one."

Ford seemed to be processing this slowly, for he didn't speak for a long moment. "Ford?" Alane asked uncertainly, looking at him with concern.

He seemed to snap out of whatever daze he'd gone into. "I think this place will be fine," he said quickly but with confidence. "But, I, uh, just remembered something. I've gotta go. I'll meet you here right after dinner?" He started to back up, but looked at her as he awaited a response.

"Yeah, I'll meet you here," she said in mild confusion.

"Great. See you tonight!" He said, then took off running back in the direction of the main building.

"See you then," she murmured. She'd been about to leave and return to her dorm, but then she spotted Ford's discarded backpack. Sighing, she grabbed it and slung it around her shoulder so she was now carrying two.

"He seemed to be in a hurry," she murmured, looking in the direction Ford had gone. He was nowhere in sight now, having been blocked out by the gym. _I'll just bring this back to my dorm. When he realizes it's gone, he'll know I have it._

With a small sigh, Alane started back off towards her building.

 

Ford had been running to seem like he was in a hurry, but as he rounded the corner of the gym he slowed considerably. His fists clenched at his sides, he looked towards the gym nervously. Rob had been a bit of a jerk since Ford had arrived at college, and now he was bugging Alane? He wasn't sure why, but that'd pushed him to do something drastic.

 _You've gotta learn how to stand up for yourself,_ the familiar words rang through his head. His father had said that when he was a kid just before making him and Stanley take fighting lessons at the school He'd always ignored what his father had said to him, because up until recently, if he got into trouble Stanley would always be there to back him up.

But now his brother was off who knows where doing who knows what, and now Rob was messing with Alane and he did _not_ like that. 

_Let's go have a chat with Rob, shall we?_


	11. Chapter 11

Later that day, Alane lugged Ford's backpack to the cafeteria to return it to him. But only Fiddleford showed up, and he said he hadn't seen Ford since that morning when he'd left for class. So she ate quickly before going back by the woods, assuming Ford had skipped dinner and gone straight there.

But when she arrived, he was nowhere in sight. Now she was really starting to worry. Just what had he gone off to do earlier?

Alane walked the whole path around campus, and didn't find Ford anywhere. By the time she reached the spot by the woods again, the moon was high in the sky. Must've been close to nine o'clock already.

 _He must've gotten hung up on something,_ she reasoned, tightening her grip on his backpack, which she'd been carrying with her the entire time. _I'll just... bring this back to his dorm, I guess. We can always just do this tomorrow._

With that decided upon, Alane walked away from the woods and headed to Ford's dormitory building. It was only a short walk, especially when compared to the one she just made around campus. So, since she wasn't really in a rush, Alane took a minute to stop and grab a Pitt Cola from the vending machine outside the gym before walking the rest of the way. Only took maybe three minutes from the path before she was walking up the steps and through the doorway of the building.

This building was considerably more crowded than her's. People hung out in the slightly-larger sitting room to her left. As she walked into the building, they actually all started laughing loudly at some joke she'd missed, and she jumped slightly in surprise. On the stairs ahead of her, two people sat on the lower steps going over test questions, and further up it looked like some of Rob's group were leaning up against the wall on the landing.

Shuddering internally, Alane walked past the people sitting on the stairs and started up to Ford's floor. Only, it wasn't just Rob's friends hanging out there. Of course Rob was present too.

Though she kept her head down and tried to walk past without drawing attention, she could tell Rob had noticed her before he'd even spoke. "Well isn't it little miss _"I'm not fond of you."_ Oh, sorry, I mean Alane," he laughed, and was quickly echoed by his gathered friends.

"What are you doing here, Rob?" She asked with a sigh, stopping on the step just past him. She tapped her index finger against her soda can in annoyance.

"Uh." He looked around at everyone with a fake confused grin. "I live here?"

She seemed to consider this for a moment. "Hm. Guess that explains why I instantly felt my brain cells dying upon entering the building," she mused before continuing up the stairs.

Behind her, Rob laughed. "You've gotta think of some better material than that," he said, looking at his friends with a grin before looking back up at her. She'd stopped again at the top of the stairs and was glaring at him. "Oh, don't let me hold you up. You're on your way to see your boyfriend the freak, right?" He snickered.

"As I said before," she said with a huff, spinning on her heel. A strand of hair fell into her face and she blew it away. "He is no more a freak than you are likable." After she'd started walking down the hall, she added under her breath, "and he isn't my boyfriend."

She could hear Rob and his friends laughing at something as she scanned the door numbers. _Room two hundred and one,_ she thought as she came to a stop outside the door. She moved to knock, but left her balled up fist hovering there inches from the wood.

 _What if he's not in?_ She wondered, arm trembling slightly. _Or he didn't show up on purpose? Maybe he's just busy and needs some time alone for something. I probably shouldn't bother him..._

Alane knocked on the door anyway.

From the other side of the door came a squeak of hinges, as if someone just stood up from a rolling chair or an old bed. There was a pause, followed by heavy footsteps as the someone approached the door. A second later it was unlocked and pulled open slowly.

"Did you forget your key again, Fiddlefor-?" Ford was saying in a drowsy tone, as if he'd been napping, as he pulled open the door partway. But he cut himself off upon seeing Alane and stopped opening the door, shielding the other half of his face. "Oh, Alane. Uh, h-hi," he stammered. "Is there something you need?"

Alane noted that her friend seemed a little jumpy and was missing his glasses. "You didn't really show up at dinner," she started off slowly. "Or at that spot." She rubbed her arm awkwardly a moment before using her free hand to pull Ford's backpack off of her. "Plus, you left this when you ran off earlier. Figured I'd return it and make sure everything was alright." She held it out to him awkwardly. _"Is_ everything alright?"

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry, Alane," he murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose for a second. But then he dropped his hand back to his side, wincing with sudden pain. "I completely forgot we were supposed to meet up. Thanks for bringing me my backpack, though." He moved to grab the backpack from her.

But she pulled it away, eyes narrowed. "Ford," she said, clearly suspicious, "you didn't answer me. Are you alright? Because an alright person doesn't wince from just touching their face." She shrugged, still holding the bag. "Unless you poked your eye by mistake or something."

"Really, Alane. I'm fine," he assured her.

"Then come out here and get your bag," she retorted, stepping away from the door and holding his backpack out to her side. In her other hand, she still held her unopened soda. "Or, I'll... I'll hurt it. I'll hurt the backpack."

Ford closed his eyes and chuckled at Alane. A second later he opened the door the rest of the way and looked at her sheepishly. Though he appeared to be in one piece still, his left hand was considerably bruised, as was his left eye.

"Oh gosh, Ford. What happened?" Alane asked in shock as she rushed forward. She dropped Ford's backpack at his feet and set her soda down before she took his bruised, six-fingered hand in her own. She looked at it a moment before turning her focus to his black eye. "Ford," she started slowly. "Did you get into a fight?"

He stared at her a moment before shutting his good eye and nodding. "I, ah, may have gone to speak to Rob," he said slowly.

 _"He_ did this to you?" She asked angrily. _Bet that's what they were laughing about on the stairs!_

Ford clearly noticed her sudden switch from worried to furious. "T-To be fair, I threw the first punch," he said, trying to avert her anger from Rob to him instead, like he was afraid she'd go hurt the wrestler if he didn't. "I got a hit in my brother would be proud of."

She sighed heavily, looking back down at his hand, which she still held in her own. "Why'd you go and pick a fight with Rob, Ford?" She asked wearily as she dropped his hand.

With his not-bruised hand, he rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at the ground, grinning. "He's been a jerk since I got here," he said with a sigh. "And I guess I didn't like hearing how he was acting towards you."

"My knight in shining armor," she laughed, patting the side of his face that wasn't bruised before bending down, picking up the bag and her soda and walking past him, into his room. "But it was still a stupid thing to do, especially when you haven't fought someone before."

"How do you know I've never been in a fight?" Ford asked defensively as he closed the door.

"You've got the hands of a scientist, Ford," she said with a grin as she put his bag besides his bed. She then walked back over and handed him the soda. "If you'd done any sort of fighting or physical labor in your life, you'd have rougher hands than that. Plus, I pegged you as more of the bookish type from day one. Now, put that to your eye; it's still cold so it should bring the swelling down a bit."

His not-bruised cheek reddened slightly as he put the soda can to his face. "Stanley was always more of the physical one, always getting into fights, usually in my defense. He and our dad were always telling me I should toughen up a bit, but I never really saw the point."

"Starting fights is useless, but knowing how to defend yourself when you're sucked into one isn't," Alane said. "I may have been kidding about it the other day, but I can teach you how to fight if you want. Purely for self defense reasons; I don't want you feeling like you need to fight Rob for me." She let out a humorless laugh. "If the guy bugged me that much, I could break his arm like that." She snapped her fingers. "And he wouldn't mess with either of us after it. But I try to be a pacifist. Most of the time."

"No, no. I think I'm done with fighting for the time being," he said quickly. "Thanks for offering, but really. I don't think this is my area of expertise."

"You're darn right it's not. Stick to being an adorable nerd, it suits you," she said with a grin before looking at him questioningly. "Say, why aren't you wearing your glasses? Isn't it hard to see like that?"

"Yeah but, ah, they sorta got a bit busted up when Rob was punching my face," he said sheepishly, gesturing over to the desk. "They're over there."

Alane walked over to the desk as Ford went and sat on his bed, soda can still pressed to his face. His glasses were sitting on a stack of papers, the lenses intact but the metal bridge connecting them was twisted, like someone had tried to snap them but the metal had refused to give.

"I have a spare pair somewhere around here," Ford said as Alane picked the glasses up. "Just haven't gotten around to looking for them yet." She heard him chuckle. "Been trying to sleep. Things are typically better after some rest."

As Ford lapsed back into silence, Alane turned and walked back over to him. Ford looked at her questioningly as she stared down at the glasses. Then, as if she were bending a straw, she twisted them back into their usual shape. Her friend was wide-eyed as she held them out to him. "If they fit a little weird, tell me and I'll try to fix whatever's wrong."

He took the glasses in his free hand and laughed. "Super strength. Forgot about that," he laughed, putting them on before perking up with a sudden realization. "Oh, we're supposed to be testing your endurance tonight!" He exclaimed, starting to stand.

Alane extended her hand and placed it on his shoulder, effectively preventing him from getting to his feet. "Don't sweat it, Ford. We can start once you can actually see out of both eyes," she said with a patient smile. "Until then, you're going to avoid doing stuff, and I'm gonna nurse you back to health."

"I don't need you to play doctor with me," he said with a lopsided grin. "I'm fine, really."

She shot him a pointed look. "Uh, says the one who was trying to _sleep off_ a black eye. You're clearly in need of my help." She rustled his hair affectionately. "It's fine. I used to take care of kids all the time at this old children's home I stayed in for awhile. I'm an expert at taking care of hurt little children like you."

"You do realize I'm older tha- right," he cut himself off, suddenly remembering. He sighed. "Fine. But what are you going to do? Get me another soda when this one warms up?"

"What? No, of course not," she said. "What I'm gonna do is sit around and nag you whenever you take that can away from your eye, and occasionally remind you to never do something like this again until you get so annoyed with me that you decide to listen, so as to not have to go through this again." She ended with a big smile.

He laughed. "Alright, well, if you're going to be hanging out and we won't be running any of the tests, what do you want to do?"

She shrugged, walking back to the desk and taking the chair. She wheeled it over to Ford's bed and sat down in it, legs over one of the chair's armrests. "Dunno. Have any fun board games?"

The boy's eyes seemed to light up at the suggestion. "Just so happens I do."


	12. Chapter 12

The game Ford had been talking about was called Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons. It was a roleplay game where you used your imagination to create, well, dungeons, and fight moves for the character you chose to play as. That was the extremely simplified explanation for the game, of course. There were actual _sets_ of official rule books for the game that you were supposed to use, but Alane couldn't even finish the first one, so she just sorta winged it after Ford gave her the rundown.

Ford was a natural at the game. Alane contributed this to the fact that he owned the game, and therefore most likely played it often. So first game, and the second game, and the third, fourth, and fifth, Alane lost pretty quickly. She lost the sixth game too, but by then she seemed to be getting the hang of it.

Right around one o'clock in the morning, Fiddleford showed up after a long night of studying. Ford convinced him to play a round with them, but only under the conditions that it would be the last one for the night because the other boy was tired.

This game seemed to take longer, and they wrapped it up just past two o'clock. Much to Alane's delight, she won this one. As they packed away the board and graph paper, and Fiddleford collapsed into bed still dressed, Ford suggested that they play again in the morning. Alane had put on a fake smile and reminded him that they had class and "those plans afterwards" the next day, so it may not be the best idea.

The game was fun, but there was no way she could play it again so soon.

Now Alane stood in the doorway, ready to go back to her dorm and snag a few hours' sleep before she had to get up and start the day. Ford stood in front of her, no longer with the soda to his eye because after it'd become no help to him, Alane had taken it back. Hey, she'd paid good money for that soda, who cares if it was a bit warm? But now soda-less, Ford had his glasses on again.

"Goodnight, Alane," Ford was saying.

"See you in the morning," she responded with a grin before adding, "and no going and picking fights with Rob, alright? I don't want you bailing on me again," she said this in a friendly tone.

Ford crossed his heart with a hand, shooting her a sly grin. "You have my word," he said in a similar tone.

"Gosh darn it, will you guys just..." Fiddleford pipped up, causing the two to look back at him. He was laying in his bed, still having not changed, with his pillow over his head. But he was peeking out at them in annoyance. "Just wrap it up, will ya?"

Alane rolled her eyes, grinning, and Ford turned back to her. "See ya," she told him with a little wave before turning and heading down the hall. She heard Ford close the door just as she reached the stairs.

Much to her relief, downstairs was practically deserted now. There were a few stranglers left, some dozing on the couches, others slowly making their way up to the dorms. It was a pleasant change from the noisy crowd that occupied the area before, but she quickly made her way through the room and outside nonetheless.

It was dark, the only real light coming from the lamps that were set up along the paths. The moon and stars had been covered by clouds and most of the students had turned in, so there weren't lights in but a few dormitory windows. The night was chilly, and so Alane wrapped her arms around her middle to try to keep warm as she hurried along the path. Her building wasn't too far, just directly across campus. Wouldn't take her long to get there.

The thought had scarcely left her mind before something new entered. She let out an unrestrained groan. "Bill, now is not the time. I'm tired, and I need to get back to my dorm."

"Kid, you don't need eight hours like humans," Bill's harsh voice rang through her head. Alane knew that if anyone happened to walk by at that moment, they'd see her eyes had turned yellow. "If you got back with only an hour before class and took a nap, you'd be fine. Besides, aren't you happy to hear from me?"

"I always am, Bill," she responded, smiling despite herself. "But is there something you need?"

"Well, I may have been spying on you and ol' Sixer back there. He sure had quite a shiner! Missed what happened before that though." He let out a giddy laugh. "Did you do it? Oh _please_ tell me you did."

"What? Of course I didn't!" She could actually feel Bill's disappointment. "He got that standing up for me."

"You can stand up for yourself. You've got legs, don't you?" He laughed. Alane imagined that he wiped away a good-natured tear. "So," he started, then said in a fake-pitying tone. "Who's bullying you?"

She huffed. "I'm not being 'bullied,' there's just some guy here who's a real jerk to everyone," she said. After a short pause, she added, "I was actually hoping to talk to you about him."

"Kid, save the talk. My advice: make him suffer in the most gruesome ways possible. Works like a charm in situations like this. Now, I just wanted to pop in and see if you'd done something _interesting_ for once. I'll be on my way now."

"Wait, Bill!" Alane exclaimed in a volume just below a shout. Clamping her mouth shut and looking around worriedly, she said in a quieter tone, "I was hoping you could talk to the guy."

The dream demon seemed interested now. "You? You are asking _me,_ the guy you want nowhere near your human-social life, to _talk_ to one of the fleshbags you know?" He sounded a bit choked up. "Alane, you're flattering this old demon."

"Bill, I don't mean that kind of talk to him," she said in exasperation. When Bill "talked to" people for her, it usually involved scarring them for life, driving them to insanity, or some form of serious injury. "I just want you to pop into a dream and have a chat with him. You know, _just_ talking. I just want you to let him know not to bother me, Ford, or anyone else he may be pestering, ever again."

He was clearly disappointed. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I'm asking you for a favor?"

"Favors aren't a thing I do for people, kid."

"But I'm not people, am I?"

"Yeah, you sorta are."

She huffed angrily. "Okay, Bill. Either do this for me or don't, I've stopped caring. I need to get back to my dorm." Alane started walking again.

Though he was silent, she didn't feel Bill leave her mind. It took a minute or two before he said, "Alright, fine. You're twisting my arm here, but I'll do it." He huffed. "Been bored anyways."

"Thanks, Bill," she said with a grin as she approached her building.

"Yeah, yeah. You owe me one, kid," he laughed before vanishing from her mind.

Alane hurried up the steps and back into her building. She sighed with relief as she was hit with the warm air of indoors, and took a moment to appreciate it before heading up to her room. Once there, she hopped right into bed and was out within seconds.

Bill was right; she didn't need as much sleep as average humans. Whether it was because of her higher endurance, or because she'd heal any damage done to her body that was caused by sleep deprivation, she didn't know. But she could go actual days on only a few hours. Though after awhile, it did seem to catch up with her like with humans.

So after only a couple hours' sleep, Alane was up again and heading back downstairs to go to breakfast. Amazingly, when she got to the cafeteria, she was one of the first ones there. So after not even having to wait in a line for food, she had her pick of the tables. She just ended up sitting at her, Ford, and Fiddleford's usual place, though. Once people started showing up, people will sit at the other tables. No one ever sat at this one but them however, so she was guaranteed her bubble of privacy.

By the clock on the wall, it was just past seven o'clock in the morning when Alane got to the cafeteria. By the time she'd finished eating and gone over the homework she'd brought with her, it was past eight thirty and Ford was just showing up. He looked half-asleep, his clothes rumpled and hair all over the place. As he sat at the table with a tray of food, he yawned a greeting before drowsily picking up his toast and taking a bite.

"Good morning to you, too," Alane said with a grin as she watched Ford. She noted that his eye looked a bit better than before, if just slightly less swollen. "You sleep well?"

"Not especially," he admitted with another yawn. "I was exhausted, but I couldn't seem to drop off; I just couldn't stop thinking. Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons really isn't a game to play before bed." He let out a little huff before continuing with his meal. "You seem perky this morning though."

"I don't need much sleep," she explained as she looked back down at her papers. "It's useful for late nights, but also a bit annoying. Makes it hard for me to sleep in and be lazy sometimes."

Ford chuckled. "Sounds great to me. I've never been much for sleeping in anyways." He gestured with his toast towards her clearly very worked on homework. "How long have you been up for, though? Even for someone like you, functioning on only a few hours can't be good."

"Only about two hours," she said with a shrug as she scribbled the answer for a question down. "I got a solid three or four hours again. I'll be fine." She glanced up at him. "Worry about yourself before you worry about me. You look terrible."

"Thank you," he responded sarcastically, but with a grin. "When I got out of bed this morning, my one hope for the day was for you to tell me how awful I look. So, thank you for that."

Alane smiled thoughtfully. "You and my stepdad would really get along," she said with a laugh. "He's one for sarcasm too."

"Is he like you? What you are, I mean."

She considered this a moment before shaking her head. "Sometimes I think we might be alike in a few ways, but appearance wise?" She laughed. "He isn't human, but any resemblance between what we are stops after intellect. And honestly, he is probably smarter than I'll ever be, so maybe that doesn't even count."

"Smarter than you?" Ford asked, mildly shocked. "I'll believe that when I see it." He paused to take another bite of his toast, finishing it off, before saying, "So, does your stepdad know what he is? Or is there another mystery for me to help solve?" He ended with a grin.

"He knows what he is," Alane said. "He calls himself a dream demon, but I think he might be a bit more complicated than that. He can like, move in and out of peoples' heads through dreams. Pretty cool, though also annoying." She tapped the side of her head. "Haven't been able to get a bit of privacy up here in the past thirteen thousand years."

"You mean he can just invade your mind at any time?" Her friend seemed freaked out at the thought.

She shook her head. "With normal people he can't when they're conscious, unless given permission. But I guess we're connected in some way that allows him to with me?" She shrugged helplessly. "I can kick him out at any time, though, which is something humans can't seem to be able to do."

Ford considered this a moment, hands on the table in front of him. "What is his name?" He eventually asked.

Alane smiled apologetically. "He'd rather me not tell anyone. Doesn't even like me writing it in my journal."

Though Ford clearly had more questions, he jumped right onto the change of topic without a moment's hesitation. "You have a journal?" He asked curiously.

Alane nodded, shifting in her seat a bit as she pulled the old book from her pocket. "It may be small," she said as she set it on the table. "But it contains the past few hundred years of my life. The most interesting bits, at least."

He looked at it, clearly intrigued. "Would you ever let someone read it?"

"Nope," she said with a grin, returning the book to her pocket. "My past is my own. Besides, you wouldn't want to read it anyway. Most of it is boring stuff. You know, my trip coming to America, the fight for independence, that sort of thing."

"How is that boring stuff?" Ford asked.

She shrugged. "I guess when you live through it, it loses most of it's interest."

Ford was silent a moment. "You know," he said, "until now, it hadn't really occurred to me just how old you are. You could probably write down first-hand knowledge about any historical event out there."

"Well, not every event, but yeah, pretty much," she said sheepishly. "Though my writing is quite terrible. I'm afraid I leave out too many details. So it could be an accurate read, but not an enjoyable one."

"I guess you _would_ need detail if you're writing about history," he chuckled. "But really, maybe after we figure out what you are, I'd love to hear about all you've lived through. You've probably got a lot of exciting stories to tell."

She shot him a lopsided grin. "If we can figure this out, I'll tell you as many stories as you want to hear," she promised.

Before Ford could reply to that, Fiddleford sat down between them with a tray of food. "Good morning, Ford Point Two," Alane said with a teasing smile. But then something occurred to her; "Don't you have a class at this time?"

The other boy shook his head, and Alane knew something was wrong because he didn't comment on her usage of the nickname. "All classes were cancelled today," he said as he halfheartedly poked at his scrambled eggs with his fork.

"How come?" Ford asked in confusion.

"Rob was just found dead."


	13. Chapter 13

Alane was pale as paper as Fiddleford continued, "His friends apparently went to meet up with him this mornin' and he didn't show. They found him in his room. Killed himself sometime in the night." He sighed heavily. "I didn't like the guy very much, but this has still come as a bit of a shock to me. He was a jerk, but he seemed happy enough."

There was a short pause as Fiddleford cleared his throat. "Anyway, the police showed up to check out his body I guess. Classes are cancelled till they leave."

Ford had taken his glasses off and was rubbing his not-bruised eye. "Now I feel terrible about getting so angry at him yesterday," he sighed heavily, putting his glasses back on. "You were right, Alane. I should've left him be."

Alane didn't reply, and Ford looked over at her with concern. She was still deathly pale, her eyes wide and there was a slight tremor to her. "Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

"I-I," she stammered, standing up and stepping over the bench. "I need to go," she said quickly, turning on her heel and walking from the cafeteria. She didn't so much as stop, not even when she heard Ford call her, or when she realized she'd left her homework at the table.

Alane practically, no, she _actually_ ran back to her dorm. She startled multiple people as she dashed past them, but didn't stop to apologize. She didn't slow until she was back on her floor in her building, and from there she fast walked to her door, opened it, then slammed it behind her. Locking both the doorknob and the chain, she went to the center of the room and sat on the rug with the trees on it.

"Bill," she said in a voice that sounded borderline scary, even to her. "Do _not_ ignore me. I know what you did to Rob."

The world around her grew hazy and gray. A second later, Bill appeared before her in a glow of yellow. "I didn't do anything to the idiot," Bill said with his eye narrowed at Alane. "You know I can't do anything to you fleshbags without a psyical form which, last I checked, _I don't have."_

"Then what happened to Rob, huh?" She demanded. "He was found dead right after I asked you to talk to him! That can't just be a coincidence! And let's be real here, Bill, this wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened and you refused to own up to it."

In the blink of an eye, Bill was before her, and he angrily thumped her on the head with his cane. Surprised, Alane rubbed her head as the demon floated away. "I never own up because I never _do it,"_ he said, clearly annoyed. "You asked me to talk to the guy, so I did. He was alive when I left."

"Well, did you say anything before leaving that may have pushed him towards committing suicide?" Alane asked in a similar tone.

He turned back towards her, looking pleased with himself. "Okay, _that_ I may have done."

"Bill! You can't just go around telling people to kill themselves!"

"Relax, kid," Bill said, rolling his eye. "I didn't straight-out tell him to die or anything. No, you told me." His naturally high voice changed slightly to sound girly-er. _""I just want you to let him know not to bother me, Ford, or anyone else he may be pestering, ever again."_ So that's what I did! I told him not to bother you or any of the freaks you hang out with, or..."

"Or what, Bill?"

"...or I'd kill him and enslave his family. Among other things."

_"Bill!"_

"Hey, I was just doing as you asked!" Bill said in his defense. "You should've known I would use threats! How else am I supposed to get someone with as few brain cells as him to listen to me? And besides, I only said I'd do that _if_ he bothered any of you. It was entirely his choice to go and kill himself." He laughed harshly. "Guess I scared him more than I thought!"

"I can't believe you, Bill," Alane said with a huff as she got to her feet. She walked over to the window and looked out at the campus. Usually so bright and full of life, everything was gray; branches had frozen mid-sway, people mid-step. It was lifeless and upsetting to look at, but she didn't turn away.

She was acting like she was angry at Bill, but in reality she was just angry at herself. She should've known something like this would, or at least could, happen. Things never ended well when Bill spoke to people in her defense. If she had just never asked him for the favor, Rob would still be alive.

But last night, she'd been angry. She'd done a good job of hiding it, from Ford, even from herself, but she'd been furious that Rob had hurt her friend. A part of her may have even wanted this to happen to him for it. That's really why she was upset.

Being in her mind, Bill clearly knew that's what she was thinking about at the moment. He floated up besides her and put an arm around her shoulder as he twirled his cane. "Don't be so hard on yourself, kid," he said in a strangely comforting tone. "Though it was unintentional, this was clearly my fault. You were just looking out for your friend." It would've been a touching thing to say, if he hadn't said "friend" like it were the most disgusting word in his vocabulary.

"No more favors from now on," she said with a sigh. "I'll handle things myself from here on out."

Clearly delighted, he playfully punched her jaw, barely even touching her. "There's my destructive little flesh servant!" He said happily. She looked at him warily, it just occurring to her how excited he seemed to get at the idea of her potentially using violence to solve problems. "Glad you're over this. About time you start adjusting to death." He floated off someways as he straightened his tie. "Anyways, I've gotta go. If you need something, remember what you just said, because I'm not gonna be coming at your call!" He laughed before vanishing.

The world remained gray for a second, but then Alane blinked and found herself sitting on the floor again, the world back in color. She sighed, putting her head in her hands. But she was jolted out of her moment of silence a second later upon hearing a knock at her door, followed by Ford's voice. "Alane?" He called to her hesitantly.

Sighing once again, she heaved herself to her feet and trudged over to the door. Undoing the locks, she opened it up to find Ford standing out in the hall. He was looking down at the homework she'd left in the cafeteria when the door opened, but quickly looked up. "You, uh, left this," he said awkwardly, holding the papers out to her.

"Thanks," she said, suddenly very tired as she took the papers from him. She then walked back into her room, leaving the door open as an invitation for Ford to come inside. He quickly did so as she walked to her dresser and put the papers down.

Silence stretched out between them for a long, uncomfortable moment. "Are you alright?" Ford eventually asked. "You seemed pretty shaken about... what happened." She didn't answer. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about?" She asked with a sigh, turning around to face him. He looked sad, but she couldn't imagine he was upset about Rob, so it must've been directed towards her for some reason. "Rob is dead, and I feel terrible about it. Sure, he was a jerk, but I was sort of a jerk back. He didn't deserve this."

"He killed himself, Alane," Ford said quietly. "It is a terrible thing to do, but I'm sure he had his reasons."

 _Oh, yeah, he had his reasons alright. The demon who practically raised me threatened him and his entire family!_ She thought angrily, but just huffed and put a hand to her face. "Why does death seem to follow me everywhere I go?" She thought aloud, her voice quiet and sad.

"Death isn't really something you can escape," her friend replied. "Sometimes it can break your heart, but it's just something you've got to live with until it's eventually your time to go as well."

Alane let out a startled laugh. "That's pretty morbid for you," she commented, the corner of her mouth flickering up into a grin for a split second.

He clearly noticed this and grinned at her, but it was sad, just like everything else. "It was, wasn't it?" He chuckled. Following a long pause, he said, "Well, it appears we have the day off of school. You want to meet up for that first session of endurance tests tonight? Or are you not feeling up to it?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm up to it. It'll be a good distraction from all..." She motioned around with a little shrug. "From all this drama, I guess. Want to meet up after dinner?"

"Yeah, after dinner will work," he said, "and I promise I'll show up this time. No starting fights," he chuckled as he took a few steps back. Motioning behind him, he continued, "Well, I'd best be going. Rob's dorm was in my building and I need to see if it's all closed off or if I can still get inside."

"Alright. See you later, then," she said. With a thin smile, Ford nodded to her then left, pulling the door closed behind him and leaving her alone once again.

She couldn't stand the idea of being alone with her thoughts any longer, so Alane went to her bed and curled up atop the blankets. She laid with her head on her pillow facing the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest. In this position, she looked like a feeble little kid who was pouting after being sent to her room.

It wasn't too comfortable a position, but she didn't think she deserved to be comfortable after what she'd just helped to cause. So after a few long moments, she fell asleep, still hugging her knees to her.

 

When she awoke a few hours later after an uneasy and dreamless sleep, the sun was setting and her legs were cramping up. Wincing slightly, she straightened herself out on her bed and laid there a moment before getting up. After brushing some of the wrinkles out of her clothes, she smoothed her hair a bit before leaving her dorm and heading downstairs, outside, and towards the cafeteria.

She'd scarcely walked out of the dorm however before noticing the police still gathered around Ford's dormitory. Though they were packing up to leave, pulling down police tape and starting up their cars, a clear sign that they'd chalked it up to suicide and nothing more, Alane felt an uneasy quiver in her stomach as if she'd murdered the boy herself. An officer passed by her on his way back to the cars and she reflexively tensed up, preparing to run if he stopped to talk to her. But he just kept walking without so much as a glance in her direction.

 _What did Bill say? Something along the lines of no one I met here would die?_ She let out a humorless laugh as she stiffly began to walk towards the cafeteria to meet up with Ford. _When am I going to learn that Bill isn't always right?_

Since classes had been cancelled all day, the entirety of the college seemed to already be in the cafeteria; there wasn't anyone still struggling through a lesson, or skipping to get a head start on their homework. So when Alane walked into the building, it was like stepping into a sea of people. For a moment she was frozen up in surprise, but quickly began to push and duck her way through the crowd before she was trampled.

Eventually, Alane made her way to their usual table. Even with the sheer number of people and lack of seating, only the two boys were present at it, as if people would rather cram into other tables or sit on the floor rather than eat besides the two nerds.

As she sat down at her place, Fiddleford looked over at her. "You look darn right awful," he commented, straightening his glasses before looking back down at his mechanics book.

She uttered a snort of laughter that made the frown that'd come to Ford's face melt away, and quickly be replaced by a grin. "Thanks, Ford Point Two," Alane said to the boy. "That is the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

Fiddleford huffed in response.

"So," Ford started, looking over at Alane. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine, really," she said with a tight smile. "What happened just sort of... came as a shock, I guess." Ford's eyes flickered to the table in front of her, as if to say _"If you're doing so well, why don't you have any food?"_ "I didn't feel like waiting in line," she said before he could ask the question himself. He nodded to her, though didn't seem to believe her entirely.

After a long, uneasy silence, Ford cleared his throat and glanced nervously over at Fiddleford. "Well, I've already eaten, and if you're not going to, you want to go head out to the, er, gym?" He asked, clearly trying hard to keep Fiddleford from finding out about their plans. But the other boy didn't seem to be listening.

With a tight smile, she nodded and got back to her feet. "Yeah, let's go ahead out. I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic with so many people in here anyway," she said, looking around and pretending to suppress a shudder.

Ford chuckled a bit, slinging his backpack over his shoulder as he stood. "See you later, Fiddleford," he said to his roommate.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, shooing the two off with a hand. "I have a test in the morning, and I need my sleep. If you get back late just don't wake me up."

Rolling his eyes, Ford grabbed Alane's hand and led her through the crowd and to the door. It was a sweet gesture, considering that without the taller boy, the crowd milling about looking for seats probably wouldn't have even noticed her. Alane wasn't really _that_ short, but she still had a paranoia about being trampled. Once outside, he let go of her and put his hands in his pockets.

"Fiddleford sure does seem to be grumpy today," Alane commented as they walked along the path.

Her friend laughed. "Yeah, he wasn't too happy about us playing that game so late last night." He glanced over at Alane. "Though, honestly? He's like this whenever he's got that book around. He takes his studying _very_ seriously."

"Well, we are at college. Why else did we come here, if not to learn?" Alane pointed out.

He seemed to consider this a moment. "Fair point."

It wasn't long before the two of them were rounding the corner of the gym. The sky had yet to darken completely, and Alane was struck with sudden anxiety. "Do you think anyone will see us, what with it not being dark yet?" She asked nervously as they stopped besides the woods.

"The sun will be down soon enough; we should be fine," Ford said dismissively. "Now, let's start these tests."


	14. Chapter 14

Alane stood a few feet away as Ford rummaged around his backpack, which he'd dropped to the ground at his feet. The boy stood back up a moment later, notebook in hand as well as a pen and a stopwatch. "Since this is the first night, I thought we could start small; just a few simple experiments to test your endurance to see just how much higher it is than the average human."

"So running, lifting, that sort of thing?" Alane clarified as she rocked back and forth on her feet with anticipation.

Ford nodded. "Would you be up to making a lap around the gym while I timed you?"

She grinned. "Yeah, sure. Just tell me when to go?" She said to him as she turned towards the gym. Alane rolled her shoulders back before glancing over at Ford, impatient to start.

The boy looked excited, his eyes shining. Pressing down on the button, he told her in a volume just below a yell, "Go!"

Without any hesitation, Alane took off at full speed back towards the gym. Super speed wasn't one of her abilities, so she wasn't there and back quick as a flash, but she was going pretty fast for someone with as short of strides as she had. Within moments she reached the gym and was ducking around the right-side corner of it to make the lap.

When Alane eventually skidded to a stop back by Ford and he stopped the clock, a full minute hadn't even passed. "That was actually very impressive," Ford said, looking increasingly more fascinated as he opened his notebook and wrote down the time. He looked back up at Alane. "Do you feel at all out of breath or tired after that?"

She shook her head, bouncing on the balls of her feet a bit. "Nope, not at all. Want me to run another lap?"

"If you're up to it, I _would_ like to see if your time is consistent or not," he said. "Another lap, or two maybe, if you're not too tired, but then that'll be it for the running for now."

"I'll run another, but Ford, you need to stop asking me if I'm up to doing things," she told the boy with a grin. "Seriously, anything you need me to do, I'll do, whether or not I'm tired or it's something crazy, like jumping off a roof." She laughed. "I'm sorta desperate to figure out what I am, so anything you think is the slightest bit consequential to getting me an answer, I'm down for."

The corner of Ford's mouth flickered up into a grin. "I promise, I won't be asking you to jump off any roofs." He paused a moment, brow furrowing. "Would you even survive that?"

 _"Probably_ not," she admitted with a shrug before gesturing over her shoulder. "But I guess that really depends on how tall the building is. Anyways, shall I run that next lap?"

Ford nodded, holding up the stopwatch once again. "Tell me when you're ready," he said. He'd scarcely closed his mouth before Alane gave him a little wave and took off running again.

In a similar fashion, she slowed to a stop back in front of Ford just about a minute later. He clicked the watch once again before writing the time down. "Well?" She asked, folding her arms as she caught her breath, her expression curious. "How was I?"

"You got within a second and a half of your previous time," Ford told her as he put the watch back in his pocket. He ran his now-free hand through his hair and sighed. "Your speed is consistent, and you're fast, both of which are clear. But that doesn't really help much. We need something more reliable than just speed and time to compare to other creatures, or else any answer we get might not be definite."

"We can try some different tests?" She offered. "Like, oh, I don't know, I could punch a tree and see how long it takes for me to break it?" Though Alane said this jokingly, if Ford said it was worth a shot then she'd do it anyway.

But her friend shook his head. "Though we should eventually test how strong you are, now isn't the right time." Alane noticed that his gaze was on something past her, so she glanced around. Taking advantage of the relatively warm night was a group of people walking along the path towards them. She stiffened a bit as she turned back towards Ford, suddenly worried that they'd seen her. _But I was just running. Not like that's superhuman or anything; everyone can run,_ she thought.

"Maybe we should just call it quits for the night," Ford continued, snapping Alane out of her thoughts. "This day has been pretty tiring, and I haven't had a chance to really prepare for actual testing yet. Tomorrow's a new day, and I think it might just be better for us to really start then."

 _He wants to push this off_ again? Alane thought dejectedly. _Is this because of Rob dying? Or does he just not actually want to help me with this?_ "Yeah, we can pick this up tomorrow," she said evenly, keeping her thoughts to herself but unable to keep the clear look of disappointment off her face. _He'd seemed so excited about doing this before..._

Ford didn't seem to notice her look and nodded to her absentmindedly. "Okay, good, great." He knelt down and picked up his bag again, returning the notebook and pen to the inside pocket before slinging it over his shoulder. "I'm going to head back to my dorm. There's something I want to talk to Fiddleford about." He motioned over his shoulder questioningly. "You want me to walk you back, or..?"

"No, no. If I can run, then I'm perfectly capable of walking by myself," she said curtly as the group of students passed on the sidewalk. A few cast curious glances in their direction, but, thankfully, no one stopped to question what they were doing. "I'll see you later."

"Tomorrow, right after dinner," Ford said, taking a step back. "We'll really start the tests then, I promise." Alane nodded to him before the boy turned and started walking back towards his building. She noted that he was walking rather fast, as if he were suddenly anxious to get back to his dorm.

Alane watched the group of people as they continued down the sidewalk. Did he leave because they'd shown up? Did he not want to be seen with her? _No, no. That's crazy. Why would he care if someone saw us together when we share the same table in the cafeteria every day?_ She thought, huffing to herself as she turned back towards Ford. He was just rounding the corner of the gym. _I'd trade all these abilities for mind reading right about now. Humans... They're so hard to understand sometimes._

With that final thought, Alane started off back towards her dorm alone. She walked fast, not because she was anxious to get back like Ford apparently was, but because the dark, looming trees of the forest were creeping her out again. Ford hadn't seemed to mind them though, so she assumed they wouldn't be finding a new place.

 _Unless he left quickly because they_ did _freak him out and he didn't want to admit it?_ She mused as she walked.

The entire way back, she rolled reasons as to why he would've left so suddenly over in her mind. When she finally reached her dorm and trudged through the doorway, she was more confused than when she'd been upon leaving the woods. Alane was sure she wouldn't get any sleep that night, what with so many questions echoing around in her head. But, she must've been more tired than she realized, because she'd scarcely laid down after getting changed before darkness enveloped her and she fell asleep.

 

The whole next day passed in a bit of a blur as she went from class to class. She'd walk in, sit down, pay zero attention as her mind wandered over various topics; did Ford still want to help her, would he show up that night, would they _actually_ start tests? Then she'd get her assignment if she had one, head to the next class, and repeat.

Because of this, when lunch finally came around and she got a break, Alane skipped it and went out to that hill in the woods. The peaceful atmosphere that seemed to surround it helped to calm her racing mind considerably, and she ended up spending just a little too long out there studying to make up for zoning out in class. When she finally realized what time it was, her geometry class was practically over, and when she got back to the school she had to rush straight to workshop so as not to miss it, too.

She ended up paying a bit more attention in this class, for the simple reason that she felt guilty about missing the other one. But, of course, the teacher didn't talk about anything interesting; just going over safety precautions and what they'd do next class. Alane left feeling as if she'd learned nothing she didn't already know.

By this time, after having skipped both breakfast and lunch that day, Alane was hungry. But she had no urge to go into the cafeteria, so she grabbed a bag of trail mix and some jellybeans from the vending machine before heading out to the spot by the woods. The sun was only just setting when she arrived, so she sat down in the grass and opened the trail mix, eating all the nuts and raisins and leaving the chocolate for last.

Alane was tossing a few of the chocolate chips into her mouth when she spotted Ford walking over from around the gym. She shot him a mock salute as a greeting, she wasn't sure why, then continued eating the chocolate until he came over.

As her friend approached, Alane noted the look of relief on his face. "I'd begun to worry that you wouldn't show," he said, much to her surprise as he walked over. He stopped a few feet off, and when Alane made no move to stand, he sat down cross-legged in the grass as he pulled his backpack off.

"Of course I'd come," she said in confusion. "This is sort of the single most important thing to happen so far in my life. Why did you think I wouldn't?"

"Well, you just seemed to be avoiding me or something," he said awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You didn't show up in the cafeteria and you skipped class. You never skip class."

"That was actually a mistake," she said. "I was studying and lost track of time." She paused a moment to eat a few more chocolate chips before adding, "Honestly, I was starting to wonder if _you'd_ show up or not."

"Me? How come?" He seemed just as surprised as she'd been.

She motioned aimlessly with one hand. "Oh, you know, you just sort of took off last night and didn't seem too interested in helping me out anymore. Plus, it wasn't really the first time we'd postponed doing this."

"Oh, sorry about that," he apologized, face reddening a bit. Ford pulled his backpack into his lap and unzipped it. "I just had an idea for something that could sort out our problem and I needed to talk to Fiddleford about it. I didn't want to say something in case he couldn't do it, but he came through. Quickly, too." From his bag, Ford pulled out a hand-sized box with a digital screen and wires wrapped around it.

"What is it?" Alane asked curiously as Ford handed it to her.

"A portable heart rate monitor," he said giddily. "These aren't even commercially sold yet, but Fiddleford knew how the larger-scale models worked and designed this one for us."

Alane looked at him suspiciously. "What did you tell him we were using it for?" She asked slowly.

He clearly sensed her unease. "I didn't tell him about this, I swear," he told her hurriedly. "I just said we needed it for a project and he didn't question it. He really just loves the excuse to make anything."

"I'm still sort of confused," she sighed as she handed the monitor back to him. "We'd already started tests yesterday; why did you decide to cut things short just to talk to Fiddleford?"

"I have a few reasons for that," he said evenly, "the first being, I didn't want to lose the idea. I mean, I'm not one to forget things like this easily, but if we'd continued tests and discovered something interesting, I most likely would've. I also wanted to make sure Fiddleford had time to work out how to make this between his studying and classes today." He grinned sheepishly. "Plus, this black eye made it a bit difficult to see very much last night. But it seems to be better today, so I should be good to go as long as you are."

She squinted at him, but was grinning. "You're making it hard for me to stay annoyed with those solid reasons," she said, fake grumpily. She was honestly just glad Ford hadn't bailed because he no longer wanted to help her. Her grin broadened into a smile. "You had me worried for awhile there that you'd decided against all this. So, thanks for sticking around." As she said this, she tossed him the pack of jellybeans. They'd originally been for herself, but she'd seen the boy eyeing them.

He clumsily caught the bag with his free hand as he placed the monitor back into his bag. Ford had a delighted grin on his face. "Thanks," he told her, staring at the candies a moment, seeming torn between saving them for later and eating them right then. In the end, he opened the bag and popped a few root beer jellybeans into his mouth. 

Alane poured the rest of the chocolate into her mouth before standing up. She crumbled up the plastic and put it in her pocket as she looked down at Ford, who was still happily eating jellybeans. "Are we starting, or do you wanna finish those first?" She asked, a teasing note in her voice.

Ford seemed to be jolted out of his jellybean-filled thoughts, and quickly got to his feet. "Yes, yes. We should start; I'd like to test out this monitor before we head into the gym."

"The gym? Why do we need to go in there?"

"To test out your strength, of course," he explained. "I heard earlier in the cafeteria that the wrestling team is so torn up about Rob, that they can barely stand to set foot in there anymore. I assume that once the coach leaves at seven, the building will be mostly deserted. We should have free rein of the equipment till ten o'clock."

"So, no punching trees then?" She asked with a little pout.

He chuckled as he knelt down by the bag. "Not unless you really want to. Now." Setting the bag of jellybeans inside his pack, he withdrew the heart rate monitor again and stood up. "Your arm, please."

Alane obeyed and held out her right arm. "Fiddleford made this pretty straightforward. Mind holding this?" She took the box from the boy once he'd unraveled the cords from around it. As Ford rolled up her sleeve, he continued, "All I need to do is put these electrode leads where Fiddleford instructed me to, and while you run it should keep track of your heart rate all the while. The data it collects will be stored in that monitoring box." He motioned to what she held in her left hand as he stuck the first electrode to her arm. "And I'll be able to go through and read over the information later."

"What exactly do you hope to learn from this?" She inquired as Ford placed another electrode on her, this one on her wrist.

"Assuming this device of Fiddleford's works," he started off skeptically, "then we'll have an accurate reading of how running effects your heart rate. You know, how often it beats and how strongly and such. Once I have that, I'll be able to compare it to those of various animals and supernatural creatures to see if we have a match on anything." Ford placed one more electrode on her before stepping back. "Okay, that should be it. Just attach that to your waistband with the clip on the back and start running when you're ready."

She did as he said and clipped the box to her waistband. The adhesive on the electrodes itched a bit, but she tried to ignore that as she turned towards Ford. "Do you need to time me or anything?"

He shook his head. "Just make a quick lap around the gym and that should be good." Ford paused a second before adding, "It may be difficult to run with that on you. Just do your best; as I said, this is just to test the device out and make sure it functions properly."

 _One lap. Easy-peasy,_ she thought before turning back around and dashing back towards the gym.

The monitor at her hip and the wires running up her arm were definitely awkward to run with. With each stride, the box thumped against her leg and the cords would hit her. They annoyed her at first and she was sure that they were effecting her running, but by the time she'd rounded the gym and was heading back towards Ford, she'd grown pretty used to it. Though she mentally vowed she'd do better next time.

As she slowed to a stop in front of Ford for the third time, she started taking the itchy electrodes off her arm. The boy had been eating jellybeans again but now set the bag down and took the monitor box off of her. Ford looked delighted as he tapped at the screen. "I assume it worked, then?" She inquired as she handed him the cords.

"Looks as if it has," he said happily as he accepted them from her. With a motion of his head, he gestured towards the small digital screen on the monitor. What had been blank upon her starting now had a graph on it and some numbers in the corner that were nonsensical to her. "I'll go over this in more depth later, but for now, it's safe to say that it was a success."

She smiled at him happily, once again the hope that she might soon find out what she is blooming up inside of her. "Thank you for doing this," she said for the... actually, she'd lost count of just how many times she'd uttered those words to this boy over the last few days. "I know I keep saying it, but just... Thank you."

Ford shot her a a smile. "It's my pleasure. Oh, and, ah, thank you for the jellybeans," he added with a chuckle as the two of them started to walk towards the gym. Ford had picked up his bag and now slung it over his shoulder after putting the monitor back inside of it.

"I hope you plan on sharing some of those," Alane said jokingly as she nudged him with an elbow. "I am the one having to preform all these tiring tests tonight."

"Hey, you gave me the bag, that means they're forfeit," he responded in good humor with a grin.

Faking a pout, she folded her arms grumpily as they neared the front of the gym. "I'll just steal some when you're least expecting it," she grumbled, but was unable to keep a straight face.

Ford laughed. "Well, now that you've told me that I'll always be expecting it," he pointed out as he pushed open the door, allowing Alane to enter before he followed her in. The door shut behind them with a loud, grating creak that echoed through the almost deserted building.

Being just past seven, the coach wasn't present in the building. But the crowd from last time she'd been in the there wasn't, either. Members of Rob's entourage, Jake and Tyler, stood in a corner talking in hushed voices. The two were clearly upset over their friend's recent death. Other than them, the boy she'd first wrestled, Tommy, was putting up some weights as he prepared to leave. Besides the three and now Alane and Ford, there wasn't anyone else in the gym that night.

"Should we wait until they leave to start?" Alane asked nervously.

Ford shook his head, leading her over to a rack where dumbbells were lined up in order of weight. The smallest one was five pounds, where as the largest was sixty. "We've already wasted enough time, what with pushing back tests so often," Ford said as the door creaked again, signalling Tommy's exit from the building. "We can just start small while those two are here." He gestured over his shoulder with a thumb as he slid his backpack to the floor. "Once they leave we can start things for real. Just consider this a warm up." With that, he grabbed one of the five pound dumbbells and quite literally tossed it to her.

She caught it out of reflex, heart pounding with the sudden fear she'd just felt. Alane glared at him a moment before looking at the dumbbell she now held. She balanced it on a finger for a moment as if it were nothing before tossing it to her other hand. "Maybe we should warm up with something a bit heavier?" She suggested, returning it to the shelf. Her eyes went straight to the sixty pounder.

The boy clearly knew what she was thinking. "Remember, don't do anything too impressive with them here," he reminded her. "How about the thirty pound instead? That's still reasonably heavy."

Alane sighed but listened to her friend, picking up the thirty pound weight instead. This one felt to her like it weighed about as much as a small stone would. But, not wanting to draw attention to herself by picking a heavier one, she lifted this one and tossed it around a bit as Ford asked her questions and wrote down her varying answers in his notebook.

This is how things went on until ten. The guys didn't leave until a janitor came in and kicked them out, along with Alane and Ford, so nearly the entire time Alane had had to use the dumbbells. At one point she had tried out the bench press, but she and Ford both agreed she shouldn't lift any more than four of the weights at a time. So for three hours, Alane answered Ford's questions and fooled around with work out equipment, but didn't actually get to do anything exciting, like test just how strong she really was.

Overall, it was pretty boring. But Alane was just happy they'd finally begun tests. And who knew, maybe the next night they'd get a bit more done? At least, that was what she hoped as she and Ford walked down the sidewalk, back towards the boy's dorm. Ford was at her side, flipping through his notes and muttering to himself about having to make a better organized list of information about her. 

Alane was walking with her hands in her pockets, silent as she looked up at the sky. Clouds had gathered since sunset, but she could still make out a few stars twinkling through the vast ocean of black above her. Through science and fact, she knew that each shining little dot was a super heated, luminous ball of plasma held together with its own gravity. She glanced over at Ford, who was still muttering to himself. Maybe through his unorganized research and avocational studies on the paranormal, she'd learn what she was, just like humans had learned what stars were.

The girl and her friend both snapped out of their thoughts as they arrived at Ford's dormitory. A forgotten strand of police tape flapped by the door in the gentle breeze, a constant reminder of what had only just recently happened in the building. "I think tonight was a good start," Ford said, and Alane tore her gaze from the yellow tape and focused on her friend. "We'll do more tomorrow though, I promise. I couldn't help but notice you looked a bit bored tonight." He added this last part a little sheepishly.

She waved a hand dismissively. "Tonight was the first real night of tests, it's probably a good thing to take it slow at first," she said, though not entirely honestly. She wanted nothing more than to jump into things head-on; run every test, push herself to her limits, do whatever it took to finally get herself an answer about what she was. But, of course she didn't say this. She didn't want to make Ford feel like he was doing a bad job of helping her.

"Well, as soon as I go over the data on this monitor to make sure it does indeed function properly, I have a long list of tests to run with it," he said, grinning with excitement at the prospect of learning more. "Consider tonight the calm before the storm. From here on out, we're going to be running tests till dawn."

Alane couldn't keep the grin from her face. It was as if Ford had read her mind and learned exactly what she was hoping to do. "Cool beans," she said, before adding as a humorous afterthought, "By the way, sharing is something people do, you know. I think you've got a jellybean addiction or something."

"Ah, yeah. They're a weakness of mine," he chuckled. "I'll try to share next time."

"You'd better," she told him with a wink before gesturing over her shoulder. "Anyways, I'm off. Same time tomorrow night?"

Ford nodded to her. "Yeah. See you tomorrow." He shot her a six-fingered wave before descending up the steps and heading in to his dorm. Alane started walking across campus only after the doors had closed behind him. The whole way back to her building and to her room, she was in a thought-filled daze, thinking about what they might do the next night.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably the one chapter in this entire book that I'm overall really happy with

Ford hadn't lied. The tests had started at a level one toughness-wise, and by the next night they had to have gone up to an eight at least.

She'd arrived at the spot just past seven after a Saturday afternoon spent relaxing. After exchanging brief greetings, Ford had told her the data from the monitor appeared to be accurate, and that he needed to get a real test with it now for research purposes. So, he'd hooked Alane up to the monitor again and told her to run a lap around campus.

First minute in she was happy: they were finally doing real tests, not just measly laps around the gym building or lifting practically weightless dumbbells. Three minutes in, her excitement and joy were replaced with a resolve to run her fastest that night, so as to get back for more tests. Seven minutes in her shoes were hurting her feet and the wires hitting her arm were annoying her again. It wasn't until eleven minutes had passed that Alane had stopped in front of Ford, doubling over as she fought to catch her breath.

He'd praised her for her time, eleven minutes was good considering how large the campus was, then he'd looked at the monitor, written something down and told her to run again.

The laps didn't really exhaust her all that much; just winded her and made her legs burn since she wasn't used to all that running. Thankfully, after the second lap Ford said they could move on to the gym for actual tests of strength.

Just their luck, the building was deserted that night. So, naturally, Ford had Alane use the toughest looking setup in the room for twenty minutes without the monitor, then ten minutes with it just to start out. Following that, he had her do the same with the sixty pound dumbbells and the weights on the bench press. Just when she thought they were done with things, Ford suggested that she box one of the training dummies so he could see how she moved while fighting.

That's what Alane was doing now. Ford had found a punching dummy in a closet, and Alane had dragged it to the wrestling mat. After taking her shoes off, she'd positioned herself in front of it like she were about to engage in a fight. As she stood there, she threw a fake punch to see just how far she'd have to extend her arm to hit the foam body before her.

Ford, who really seemed to be enjoying the entire testing process, stood off to the side looking eager. "Fight as if your life depended on it. Don't hold back!" He told her, pen poised above his notebook as he prepared to take down notes.

Alane nodded, more to herself than to him. _Let's do this,_ she thought, shifting on her aching legs before throwing a solid punch to the dummy's middle. Though it was weighted on the bottom, the dummy scooted back along the mat and leaned dangerously far back. It probably would've toppled if Alane hadn't darted forward and rightened it before it could.

"Okay," Ford said from behind her. When she turned back to face him, the boy was scratching his forehead with the back of his pen as he looked from the dummy to his notebook. "Maybe hold back a little bit."

"Make up your mind already," she said, huffing a laugh as she pulled the dummy back to the middle of the mat. This time after taking up position in front of it, she threw a less powerful punch which only made the dummy rock back and forth.

When Ford didn't pipe up with a suggestion on what to do, Alane just continued with her assault on the foam torso-up of a person. A few quick punches to one side before darting around and dealing more blows on the opposite. With each time her fists would make contact with the dummy, it would rock as if it were about to fall over, and Alane had the nagging feeling inside that she _would_ knock it over by mistake soon.

After a few more blows with her fists, she decided to change the attack up a bit. Though her legs still ached, Alane launched a kick at the dummy that sent it rocking precariously back. She quickly stomped a foot down on the platform below it, rightening it once again before aiming another kick.

For about an hour, Alane fought that dummy. She only stopped in her onslaught when she felt Ford's hand on her shoulder. She was so surprised, having not even heard him come over that she nearly turned around and punched the boy. But she lowered her fist before she'd even really thrown it.

Ford looked mildly frightened, as if he'd been afraid she was actually about to hit him. "It's ten," he eventually got out, clearing his throat. "We'd better leave before the janitor kicks us out again."

Alane nodded, suddenly feeling very tired as her muscles relaxed now that she was done fighting. "I'm gonna ache so much in the morning," she laughed as she walked away from Ford and over to where she'd put her shoes and backpack.

"That's actually part of the tests as well," Ford told her as she slipped on her black boots once more and lifted her bag. The textbooks inside seemed to weigh as much as a car right then. "I need to know whether or not you're sore at all from this today, and if you are, how badly and where at."

She sighed, shooting a lopsided grin at Ford. "Of course, the tests were just a test for a bigger test," she observed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. After a moment, she lowered her head and pointed at the exit as she started to walk stiff-legged towards it. "Let's go. I need chocolate," she declared.

Ford caught up to her before she got outside, and opened the door for her. "You sure you want chocolate this late? The sugar might keep you up," he warned.

"Pssh, like anything could keep me from falling asleep tonight," she said dismissively as she headed towards the vending machine. She reached into her pocket for some change, but stopped a second later as she noticed a snack already at the bottom of the machine. "Oh, score," she said with a delighted grin, reaching in and withdrawing a nutty chocolate bar.

She quickly tore the wrapper off and took a bite, savoring the rich taste as it washed over her tongue. "This day just keeps getting better," she sighed happily as she returned to Ford's side and together they headed back towards his building once again.

"What, no jellybeans?" He asked in fake disappointment.

"I'm not gonna feed your addiction," Alane responded in the joking-teasing tone she so often used with the boy.

Ford laughed, grinning as he looked down at the notebook he still held. "I'm going to go over my notes from this session once I return to my dorm," he told her, quickly changing the conversation tone from joking to serious. "I want to start getting organized with my research tomorrow, and to do that I need to figure out what we know so far."

"It's already so late though, why not just wait till the morning?" She suggested with a concerned look at him. "You're not like me, Ford. You still need your sleep. And you can't expect that black eye to heal up quickly if you don't rest."

He waved a hand dismissively. "I'll be fine. I've pulled all-nighters before without being effected much, and I don't plan on this even taking me but an hour or two. I'll get plenty of sleep."

Alane sighed, knowing there was no arguing with the boy over the matter. "What is your class schedule like tomorrow?" She asked instead.

"Well, it's Sunday, so I have Applied Quantum Phase Theory that morning, but it's my only class," he told her after a pause. Alane took a moment to be impressed; where as she'd come to this school and taken up easy classes for the fun of it, Ford was taking the most advanced ones they provided so as to get the best education he could at such an underrated college as this. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. I just wanted to know if I were able to steal you away for a bit in the afternoon. I found this nice spot in the woods for studying and I thought you might like to see it," she told him with a smile before taking another bite of her chocolate and awaiting an answer.

Ford seemed a little surprised by the request. "Uh, yeah, sure. You can show me after lunch?" He suggested.

Happy with that, she nodded. "Alright. I'll see you then," she told him. They'd reached his building and were standing at the base of the steps, so after shooting Ford another mock-salute, a way of saying hello and goodbye that she was starting to like, she turned on her heal and started towards her building. On the way back, she finished her chocolate bar and threw the wrapper away in a garbage can along the path.

That chocolate was a big mistake.

The sugar from the candy combined with her excitement over real tests and showing Ford her studying place in the morning made it practically impossible to drop off. It wasn't until the sky was growing pale with dawn light that she finally fell asleep. Her last conscious act before darkness overtook her was her hoping Ford had been kidding about testing till dawn. If he wasn't, and she started turning in right around that time each day, why, she'd be sleeping through her classes.

Alane didn't get to enjoy her rest for too long, because it seemed like she'd scarcely closed her eyes before the alarm by her bed started going off. The sound scared her to death, and she flailed around under her blankets a moment before falling out of bed entirely.

With a strangled groan, she pushed herself into a sitting position on the floor and grabbed the clock from her end table, glaring at its face as she switched it off. She'd never slept in late enough to actually be awoken by the alarm.

Sighing, she rubbed her eyes sleepily before getting up. She quickly remade her bed before getting ready for the day and heading out to the cafeteria for breakfast. There she found Fiddleford and an equally tired looking Ford.

"Mornin'," Fiddleford greeted, seeming a bit more welcoming towards her presence that morning. Maybe he was finally warming up to her?

"Good morning to you as well," she told him, yawning widely as she sat down in her seat. She wasn't hungry, so she hadn't gotten any food before coming over. To her right, Ford muttered a greeting, and she looked over at him in concern. The boy had his head on the table. "You alright?" She asked worriedly.

"He was up all night goin' through his books on the paranormal," Fiddleford explained with a teasing smile at his friend. The smile dropped away however as he added, "He drank all my coffee."

"What happened to "I don't plan on this even taking me but an hour or two?"" She asked, folding her arms as she looked at her tired friend. "You said you were going to get some sleep."

"It _didn't_ take me but an hour," he said drowsily as he sat up. He used a six fingered hand to prop up his head, as if he were too exhausted to keep it up without some help. "But I couldn't sleep, so I decided to... do some research." He ended with a gaping yawn. "I'm just having some trouble actually... waking up. But I'll be good by this afternoon... probably." He yawned again.

Alane sighed in exasperation as she looked over at Fiddleford. "And you just let him do this?" She asked. "Didn't even suggest to him that he should get some sleep?"

"I'm his roommate, not his mother," Fiddleford said pointedly, then looked towards Ford. The boy seemed to be nodding off. "Though if you're gonna be stayin' up all night with your pen clicking and mutterin', then I'm giving myself permission to play my banjo when you're in the room."

"You have a banjo?" Alane asked, turning her attention to Fiddleford.

He nodded. "I collect 'em back home, but I brought my favorite one along with me. Stanford here doesn't enjoy me playin' it while he's studyin' however, so it's been collectin' dust in a corner all year." He smiled happily. "But if he's goin' to be interferin' with my sleep by not sleepin' himself, then I don't think he gets a say in whether or not I can play when I like."

Ford didn't seem to be paying attention to either of them, instead squinting at a clock across the room. "I need to get to my class," he said tiredly as he stood, grabbing his bag from where it'd been propped up besides him. He started to walk away, but then doubled back and looked at Alane. "You still want to meet up after?"

"Only if you're still awake," she said with a short laugh. "Just meet me at our spot when class is over, if you're still up to it."

Her friend nodded before walking away. "You know, I've been tellin' Ford he needs to take a break from his studies and talk to people besides myself," Fiddleford said thoughtfully, causing Alane to turn back towards him. "Though frankly your sense of humor annoys me, I'm glad you two have hit it off together. Invite me to the weddin'." He stood up from his seat as he prepared to leave.

"We're not a couple, you know," Alane said, rather taken aback. "We're just friends."

"Uh-huh, right," he said with a chuckle, turning around and making his way through the crowd in the same direction Ford had gone, leaving Alane alone at the table.

 _What is with people and thinking Ford and I are a couple?_ Alane thought to herself awkwardly as she sat there in silence. After a long moment, she too stood up and left the cafeteria, heading out to the woods by the gym.

With daylight having once again returned, the trees looked just like normal, moss-covered trees. It was amazing how a little darkness could change some things' appearances so drastically.

Alane leaned up against one of the trees, enjoying the cool shade as she looked over the lawn. People sat in groups or alone, chatting or studying and in a couple cases playing lawn games. It was peaceful, but not a scene she could watch and remain pleasantly occupied for the duration of Ford's class. So, she slid down against the trunk until she sat in the dirt at its base and withdrew her mobile phone prototype from her pocket.

Her phone couldn't really do much at the moment. She was trying to figure out a way to program games into it, but until then, she could only make relatively short-distance calls, leave notes and reminders for herself, and put a password on the device so no one else could use it.

As she thought about this, she realized she hadn't actually put a password on the phone yet. So, she flipped it open and spent the next twenty minutes trying to get into her password program, which was loading incredibly slow and kept kicking her out.

When she finally got it open however, she paused with her thumb above the keypad, ready to type. _What should I make the password?_ She thought, brow furrowed as she looked at the little box. There was enough space for four letters or numbers. _Bill? No one knows his name but me; it would be just as safe as any other password._

 _But he might not want his name on this. He_ is _very serious when it comes to keeping him a secret,_ she continued, looking up from her phone. Across campus, she saw a familiar figure walking in her direction, and she suddenly knew what the password would be.

F-O-R-D, she typed into the box before pressing enter. The screen blinked white a moment before returning to yellow, the words "Password Saved" flashing across the top of the small screen. Alane smiled to herself as she returned to her phone background before shutting it and putting the device back in her pocket. Only a moment later, Ford stopped in front of her, backpack still on.

"You're here early," she observed as she stood up, brushing some dirt from her clothes.

"The rest of class was cancelled; our teacher had some family emergency to deal with," he said with a shrug before tilting his head at her. "What were you doing?"

"Programming a password into that mobile phone of mine," she told him with a happy little smile. "Bet you'll never guess what it is."

"Would you tell me if I asked?" He inquired with a grin.

Alane shook her head, spinning on her heel. "Nope, it's personal. Now, follow me into the wilderness young human," she said in her attempt at a sinister tone as she looked over her shoulder at Ford, "It's time for an adventure!"

Ford huffed a laugh as he followed her into the woods. Though she'd only been out there a couple times, she'd already memorized the path and had no need to look where she set her feet with each step. Behind her, Ford walked more slowly, and she assumed it was because he was being careful. But when she glanced around at him as she reached the stream, she realized it was because he was stopping to look at almost everything along her path. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be looking at everything she'd found interesting her first time out there.

She smiled to herself. "C'mon," she called to him, taking a step back onto a rock in the stream, upon which she balanced on for a moment before turning and hopping onto the other side. "Not much further now!"

"Better not be. I'm still not entirely awake," Ford said jokingly as he approached the stream. He crossed over it in one long stride, not even bothering to use the stepping stone like Alane had.

Once he was caught up besides her, Alane continued along the path until she eventually came out in the clearing, where she stopped and looked at him excitedly. "Well? Isn't it cool?" She asked with a little bounce as her friend looked at the hill. Without waiting for an answer, she continued as she walked up towards the tree, "I've come here a couple times to study. It's a real peaceful place, and it reminds me of where I spent most of my time before coming to Backupsmore."

"It's definitely tranquil," Ford said in a thoughtful tone as he followed her up the gentle incline. When Alane looked back at him, she saw that her friend had a small smile on his face. "How did you find this place?"

"I got bored while waiting for you at our spot that first night," she said, stopping in her tracks below the split tree and looking up into its bushy branches. "Just wanted to kill some time and explore a bit. But then I found this place and I just..." She sighed happily. "I couldn't just not come back."

Ford came up besides her and followed her gaze. As she had previously suspected he was tall enough to do, he stretched out a hand and touched one of the lower branches. From it, he plucked a leaf, which he studied curiously as he asked, "So now that we're here, what did you want to do?"

She actually hadn't thought that far. "We're both tired and neither of us have classes, so how about we just hang out and relax?" She suggested. The two of them had been friends since her arrival, what, a week ago? More? And yet, they'd never just sat around and had a nice chat together without Fiddleford around. Since day one, there'd just always been something going on that either one or both of them were focused on.

Her friend seemed completely up to the idea, for as a response he sat down at the base of the trunk cross-legged and placed his backpack besides him. Ford rested a six-fingered hand on one of his knees as he continued to twirl the leaf between his fingers on the other. "You know, it's been real nice having you here, Alane," Ford said as she settled down on the cool ground besides him. She looked over at her friend curiously, but he kept his gaze fixed firmly on the leaf.

"I'm still not too happy about not being accepted into West Coast Tech, but Backupsmore has been better than I previously expected it to be. But, oh, I don't know. Something just felt like it was missing from my life before?" He dropped the leaf and the two of them watched as it fluttered away in the breeze. "Wasn't until we became friends that I realized I was lonely. Though my education here has been adequate and Fiddleford is the best roommate I could've hoped for, I've been so focused on getting through this and moving on with my life that I didn't take the time to really talk to any of my fellow students. I'm just... really glad to have met you, because now it feels like I have everything."

Ford's cheeks reddened and he put a hand to his face. "Oh man, sorry, I-I didn't really mean to say all that," he stammered with a laugh before quickly looking over at her, slightly panicked looking. "A-And I wasn't trying to flirt with you by saying all that. I just meant that you're a great friend, and that... I'm gonna stop talking now."

"Oh, Ford," she said with a grin, playfully hitting her shoulder against his. "You're adorable, you know that? And I completely get what you mean. If it weren't for me meeting you, I probably wouldn't have stuck around this place for so long. The experience has been nice, except for, you know, Rob and all that, but I only really came here so my stepdad would stop nagging me about doing stuff." She chuckled. "Didn't really realize it at first, but I was pretty starved for a friend, too."

Her friend smiled at her for a moment before breaking eye contact. Alane watched as his gaze roamed over the treeline, the corner of his mouth curled up in a grin. He seemed content, as if he'd been meaning to say all of that for awhile. "This place really is nice," he eventually said. "Is this your place? Or am I allowed to come back here on my own?"

"I'll permit you to come back," she told him, grinning. "But no wild parties."

"Deal." He smiled at her.

An easy silence fell over the two, and Alane found herself taking her notebook out of her pocket. She could feel Ford's eyes on her as she flipped to the next blank page. "Could I borrow a pen?" She asked, looking over at him.

"Sure," he said, pulling his backpack onto his lap and rummaging around in it. A second later, he handed her a pen. "Are you going to make an entry?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," she said, then paused, looking down at the two blank pages of her book. After a moment of consideration, she held the book and pen out to him. "Actually, why don't you write down a bit about yourself?"

Ford seemed taken aback. "You want me to write an entry? Why?"

She shrugged, still holding out the objects to him. "You're the first person to find out about my not being human and all." She cleared her throat. "Well, first person to find out and be alright with it. Technically the second person to find out, but that's besides the point. I was just hoping you'd write a bit about yourself and confirm what a cool person I am for future readers?" Alane grinned at him.

He chuckled, gingerly taking the journal from her before accepting his pen back. "Who was the first person to find out, if you don't mind my asking?" Ford asked as he began to draw something on one of the blank pages.

"This guy named Gavin Bradbury back when I first came to America," she said with a sigh, looking at the ground as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "We were friends at first. He was a real sweet guy, if a little dimwitted. But then he saw me do something, I can't even remember what, and he thought I was a witch. It didn't end too well." She looked back over at Ford. "You can imagine why I was hesitant about telling you about all this. I wasn't sure if witch hunts were out of style or not." Alane ended with a little laugh, but there wasn't much humor behind it.

"I'm fairly sure witch hunts aren't permitted by law anymore," Ford chuckled, oblivious to Alane's sudden mood change. He glanced over at her and smiled, saying before he got back to writing, "Thank you for having trust in me, though. I'm glad that you feel like I'm someone you can be open with."

 _Well, not entirely open,_ she thought guiltily as she remembered Bill and how he'd had a hand in what happened to Rob. _Should I tell Ford about that? That it was sort of my fault that Rob died, all because I went and talked to Bill?_

 _No, I shouldn't,_ she decided as she watched her friend write. He seemed just so... at ease right then. _I shouldn't ruin this. Maybe I'll tell him once we've gotten this all sorted out._

"Say, when did you get this journal?" Ford asked, snapping her from her thoughts. "It's so old, and the pages seem so delicate. I'm afraid they'll crumble in my hands."

"I got it in..." She trailed off, thinking. "The late sixteen hundreds?" Ford shot her a surprised look before he continued to write. "I don't really remember. I should probably read through this thing and refresh my memory sometime."

"So that's why you keep it, then? To help you remember events?" He asked her, and when she turned to look at him he quickly added, "I mean, you said you wouldn't let anyone else read it, so I'm only assuming..."

"My stepdad suggested that I keep a journal years ago to help remember things. But really, I only keep up entries out of boredom or to get him to stop nagging me." She shrugged. "I've actually never read through this book before, save for the entries as I write them."

"I've been meaning to ask about your stepfather," Ford started off slowly, not looking at her. "Is he really your stepfather? Because I was having some trouble wrapping it around my head just how a, dream demon, was it? Well I was just confused as to how a dream demon would be able to, I guess, marry someone."

Alane shook her head, the corner of her mouth curling up into a grin as it so often did when she was with Ford. "He isn't actually my stepfather. I just refer to him as that because "magical being who shows up every now and then to call me an idiot" is a little wordy." She paused. "He's also just sort of always been there for me. My earliest memory is of him, and I have so many other memories of when I was young of him just sort of... I dunno, watching out for me? Acting in place of my absent parents?" Alane shrugged, sighing. "He's like a father to me, even if I wouldn't ever admit it to him."

Ford nodded thoughtfully, considering her response as Alane scooted a bit closer, peeking over at her journal. "Uh-uh, no looking until I'm done," Ford said with a laugh, turning the book from her.

"But it's _my_ journal," she said with a little pout. "I get to peek."

"Nope," he said, keeping the journal angled away from her as he continued to write. "You've got to wait."

She faked a loud groan, leaning back against the tree. "Fine, just don't take too long," she said with a grin before yawning heavily, her eyesight blurring. She rubbed her eyelids wearily, her previous exhaustion suddenly rushing over her like a tidal wave. _I thought I was finally waking up..._

"Not quite, kid." The high pitched voice caused her eyes to fly open in alarm. Alane was greeted with the terrifying sight of Bill's eye mere inches from her face, and she let out a little squeal of surprise. The demon floated back a few inches, looking very amused for a being with no real facial features. "Woah, woah, kid! Just your ol' pal Bill popping in to check on you, no need to be alarmed."

As Alane fought to catch her breath, she looked around her. The lush, green forest had had its color drained. Everything was white or gray or black now, and looked incredibly dreary compared to the previously calming, in-color version. To Alane's left was Ford, frozen with his pen poised above her open journal. Like everything else, he was monotone, his skin so ashen looking that he very well could've passed for a corpse.

Once her heart had calmed itself, Alane turned back towards Bill, glaring. "Why do you insist on popping in at the worst possible times?" She demanded. "I'm trying to have a peaceful, normal afternoon here. Is there something you need?"

"Worst possible time? Oh, you mean because you're with him, right?" Bill laughed as he floated in front of the frozen boy. He flicked Ford's nose as his eye traveled back to Alane. "You know this isn't going to end well, right?"

"Aren't you the one who told me I needed to make new friends?"

"Yeah, but I didn't say "Go find some random guy and tell him all your deepest, darkest secrets!"" Bill retorted. "Seriously! How long have you known him, a week, two? And you're already letting him read your journal!" The demon froze up, seeming to backtrack in his mind a moment as he looked down at the gray journal in Ford's frozen hands. "Hold on. Am I seeing this correctly? Are you really that much of an idiot? Did you forget my only-for-your-own-eyes rule?" He exclaimed angrily, momentarily flaring red before returning to his usual yellow color.

Alane took a deep breath before saying as calmly as she could manage, "I haven't forgotten your rule, Bill. Ford isn't reading it, merely making a short entry about himself."

The demon huffed. "Well, I suppose you might need some reminder of your pathetic friendship in a few millennia when he's dead and gone," he said with a shrug before glaring at Alane. "But this is still an issue. You can't put your trust in humans like this, kid. In the long run, they're bound to stab you in the back! Literally!"

"What do you even care?" She snapped, getting to her feet. "You always seem to enjoy it when I'm proven wrong, so why try to dismiss Ford so soon? Why not grab some popcorn and wait for the inevitable? Or are you afraid I might've actually proven you wrong and found a genuinely good human being?"

Before she could blink, Bill was right there in front of her, eye narrowed to a slit. He jabbed a finger at her menacingly before saying in an icy tone, "In your entire existence on this miserable planet, I have done nothing but look out for you. Why? Because you're always doing stupid stuff like putting your trust in people! You never learn from it, either! How many times have you befriended someone, only to be betrayed by them? To be abandoned?" Alane's gaze wavered and she looked down. "That's right, too many times to count!

"These worthless sacks of flesh and guts can't be trusted," he continued in the same tone. "Hanging out with this six fingered _freak_ is going to get you nowhere but in a load of trouble. You may trust him with your secrets, but I don't trust him with _mine."_ Alane looked back up at him, feeling vaguely guilty from the scolding but mainly confused. "I heard the end of your conversation back there. Like a father to ya, huh?" He laughed in his high voice, an echo of it ringing over the frozen hill and rattling Alane to her core. "I told you not to talk about me. Not to even mention me. Did you at least have the sense to not say my name?"

 _I don't see how it would matter if I did or not,_ she thought angrily. _He knows you exist, so what if he knows your name?_ "No, I didn't say your name," she said curtly.

He seemed satisfied with the answer. Floating back a few feet, he turned away from her. After a short pause, during which he straightened his tie, Bill said, "You're just as stubborn as the fleshbags you hang out with. I get that." He turned to face her again. "And I know I won't be able to tell you what to do. But just remember, kid; I've been around longer than you have, and I have had an up close look at a lot of minds. These lumbering beasts?" He jabbed a thumb in Ford's direction. "You'll regret putting so much faith in them in the end.

"Anyway," he continued, voice drastically changing from the serious and icy tone back to his usual, sarcastic and smug way of speech, "just wanted to show up and see if I couldn't strike a bit of fear into ya, try to get you to see things my way. Gonna go take care of a couple things now." He narrowed his eye at her. "One more word about me though and I'll be back, and I won't do you the courtesy of visiting in a dream." He laughed heartily, rising up in the air as he added, "And remember, kid. Trust no one!"

Alane had only just enough time to imagine the alternative, coming into her mind while conscious and how she'd have to explain her yellow eyes to Ford, before the gray world around her began to swirl and blur together. A second after Bill vanished from sight, Alane blinked open her eyes in the waking world.

It was a relief to be greeted by the swaying and in-color branches of the trees surrounding the hill. She took a moment to just be happy color existed; if the world were like that of the one she and Bill spoke in, life would be so dreary. But despite the world being in color again, something still felt a little off to her.

About a half second later, Alane realized it was because she was looking at the trees from an angle.

Very slowly, she turned her head to the left and looked up. Her awkwardness and embarrassment was mirrored on Ford's face as he looked down at her resting her head against his shoulder.

Alane quickly sat up, face beat red as she proceeded to scoot a bit away. "S-Sorry," she said hastily before adding with a halfhearted laugh, "Guess I was more tired than I thought."

"I-It's fine, you're fine," he stammered, shifting on the spot to adjust to not being laid on anymore. Clearing his throat, he held her journal back out to her. "I, uh, finished the entry while you napped."

The change of topic was a welcomed relief. "So I can look now?" She asked, taking the journal in her hands. When Ford nodded, a grin at his mouth, she flipped to the last written on page. Alane surprised herself when she let out a little gasp.

She had expected just a few lines talking about himself. But on the tiny, pocket-sized pages, Ford had managed to draw a realistic portrait of himself on one page and a reference to his abnormal hands on the other, with various bits of info littered around them in need cursive. It was just basic stuff; his name, where he was from, his goals for the future, but Alane was impressed nonetheless that he fit so much in, and her eyes kept roaming over to his drawings.

"You never told me you could draw," she said with a thoughtful smile as she looked up from the book. "I mean, that sketch of my tattoos was spot on, but these? They're fantastic!"

Ford rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's nothing to brag about, just doodles really."

"Don't tell somebody with no artistic talent that they're just doodles," she said. "These are totally great, and anyone who reads this in the future will think so too."

Her friend blushed, this time she hoped more from flattery rather than feeling awkward. Ford breathed in before letting out a long, contented sigh. "This has been nice," he said after a long moment of comfortable silence. "But honestly, I'm exhausted. Another few minutes and I'll be the one falling asleep on you." He chuckled.

It occurred to her just how tired the boy looked, and she quickly nodded her head, brow furrowed slightly. "We can head back, then?" She asked in a slightly worried tone before adding a little more briskly, "Unless you want to hang out and have me carry you back when you finally doze off?"

Ford laughed before getting to his feet. Alane followed suit as she put her journal in her pocket and he picked up his bag. "I'm heavier than I look; I wouldn't want you to have to carry me," he said humorously. "Let's just head back. I'd like to try and catch a bit of shut eye before we meet up tonight."

"Oh, right, tests." She'd just about forgotten them already. _Ah, well, can't be like this all the time I suppose,_ she thought as the two of them headed down the hill. Once they were on level ground, she looked over at Ford with narrowed eyes, the hint of a grin at her mouth.

He stopped and looked at her in confusion. "Something wrong?" He asked, hand going over his hair like he thought there might be something in it.

In response, she darted forward and lifted Ford off the ground. He let out a yell of alarm and surprise, arms waving around as he fought to adjust to being in the air. Just a second after picking him up, Alane set him back down and stepped away, grinning at the look on her friend's face.

"Just wanted to show you I could, just in case you ever do fall asleep in the woods and need me to carry you back," she said, a teasing note in her tone as she turned and began walking along the path as if nothing happened.

After a few seconds, Ford recovered from his surprise and rushed to catch up. "You know, I've seen you lift things heavier than me, there was no need to do that," he said as he slowed at her side.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to see how you'd react." She grinned at him.

The two walked side by side on the narrow path until they broke from the cover of the trees once again and came back out on the edge of campus. "I'm glad you showed me that place. With Fiddleford electing to play his banjo when I'm around, I'll need a new quiet place to study."

"Well, feel free to go back any time," she told him before playfully nudging him away. "Now go on, go take a nap. You look terrible."

"As a matter of fact, I will," he responded, hitching up his bag before shooting her a smile. "See you tonight?"

"Definitely," Alane said, and the boy turned and walked away.

She watched him go for a moment before sighing heavily, feeling happy about their relatively peaceful afternoon. But she soon started to make her way back across campus, headed in the direction of her dorm so she too could try to get some sleep before that night.


	16. Chapter 16

Whenever she wasn't in class, Alane was spending time with Ford, trying to get any kind of idea of what she was. They'd spend hours after dinner out on campus testing Alane's abilities, sometimes till the sun rose. But the lack of sleep didn't seem to effect Alane much, and Ford seemed perfectly capable of functioning on but a few hours, so they didn't stop, not even for a day.

Her second week at the college was soon up, but the man who'd enrolled her never approached her about a tuition fee. Alane sorta figured Bill must've had a word with him; he often "persuaded" people into letting her do things for free, whether or not she wanted him to. But she honestly didn't pay it much thought this time around, what with being so caught up with tests.

The tests continued into the third week, but it wasn't till about half way through that Ford showed up to their nighttime testing and training session with some news. Alane could tell he had something to say to her before he'd even reached their place by the woods, for she saw him running over like an excited kid.

"Alane!" He gasped out as he drew to a stop in front of her. The boy was panting from having run the entire way across campus, and had to lean against one of the trees along the path as he fought to catch his breath. "I..." He trailed off, still panting.

She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Breath, Ford," she said. Grinning, she added, "You know, maybe you should be the one doing all this running around. Seems like you could benefit from it."

"Hey..." He muttered defensively, but looked at her with humor in his eyes. "You get winded too when running across campus." He straightened himself up before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. After a moment he said, "I have some news."

"Good news, I hope?" Alane asked. "Have you gotten somewhere with the tattoos?"

"The tattoos were a dead end, I'm afraid," he said. "Closest match I could find was an Egyptian hieroglyph, and it still wasn't too close. But," he continued upon seeing Alane's stricken face, "I've gathered up all the notes I've taken on you and compiled a list from the information, then I raided the library during lunch today and found multiple books on the paranormal. After going through them all, I've found seven supernatural creatures you could be."

Her heart seemed to leap in her chest. With wide eyes she asked, "Seven? How did you find so many?"

Ford grinned. "I searched for creatures with characteristics similar to your's. Humanoid, appears ageless, strong, can shape shift and heal... All seven matched at least eight out of ten of the traits I searched for."

"So," she asked, shaky with excitement. "How do we narrow down the list?"

"The easiest thing to do that doesn't involve a dissection of some kind would be to run a simple blood test," he replied evenly. "All of the creatures seem to have blood types unique to their species. For example one creature has yellow blood while another has blue, and the red-blooded ones all have certain components in their bloodstreams that set them apart from humans.

"All we'd have to do is look at a sample of your blood under a microscope in the labs and we should be able to tell which one of these creatures you are. Though there is always the chance that you're just some rare variation of a hu-" Alane cut him off by darting forward and hugging him. She stepped away a moment later and looked up at him, eyes shining. "Uh," he started, looking surprised. He cleared his throat. "Thank you?"

"Ford, I don't really have words to express how grateful I am for your help with this," she said with a smile. "Before I met you, it was always just me trying to figure it all out on my own. My stepdad wasn't even a help; the second I'd bring up the topic of what I am, he'd shut me down or vanish for a few days.

"What I'm trying to say is, thank you, Ford. It's been nice not being alone in this for once, and for the first time in my entire thirteen thousand, nine hundred and _something_ years of life, there's a chance of finally solving this mystery of mine."

After her little speech, Ford went on to tell her how it was his pleasure to help her and how he was just as keen on finding out what she was as Alane. He went on to tell her about how the blood test would go; he'd need no more than a drop that he could study to see if it matched the descriptions of the other blood. As soon as he got a match, he'd come find her.

"Meanwhile, you can just go back to your dorm for a bit," Ford added. "I should be able to handle myself in the labs. And besides, you've been working hard this past week; you've probably gotten less sleep than I have. Just take some time to rest and I'll come get you once I have news."

"You sure you don't need any help?" She asked. Though the constant exercise from the tests was starting to catch up with her a bit, she didn't want to just go back to her dorm and wait for news. She wanted to _be there_ when he found out.

But Ford just nodded to her. "I'll be fine. Besides, I wanna keep you in suspense for a little longer," he said jokingly before motioning for her to follow him. "Come on, let's go get that blood sample."

That night they'd come out a little later than usual, so when they reached the labs inside the main building, the sky was beginning to lighten as dawn neared. Inside was pitch black, but Ford flipped a switch and the lights flickered to life. Alane caught clear sight of the labs for a few seconds, it was just a standard white room with a few windows and some well used microscopes and other equipment, before a few of the lights went out again, casting part of the room into shadows.

One thing that remained in her mind however were the tables set up in a corner used for dissection related experiments on various animals. She shuddered as she remembered Ford's words, how this was the best solution besides doing a dissection of some kind. Alane just hoped they'd get their answers from this so it wouldn't come down to that.

Alane hopped up onto one of the white counters as Ford rummaged around a drawer. After a moment he withdrew a small, plastic bag with a syringe in it and walked over to her. "You want me to numb your arm or anything?" He asked as he opened the bag up and withdrew the syringe.

She shook her head. "Just do it. I'll be fine," she assured him as she rolled up one of her sleeves.

Looking just a bit hesitant, Ford took the cover off the needle and gingerly grabbed her arm. "I am really not qualified to do this," he said with a shaky laugh as he poked the needle into her arm by the curve of her elbow. Alane didn't react to the pain, but winced as she saw her blood filling up the syringe.

Ford stopped before it was even half full and withdrew the needle from her arm. A small dot of blood showed up where the needle had been, but Alane wiped it away, her arm having already healed. Meanwhile, Ford was studying the blood in the syringe. "Red blood," he mused. "That's two creatures we can mark off the list."

"So how long will this take?" Alane asked as she hopped off the counter and followed Ford to the microscopes.

"Not too long," he replied as he plugged some of the equipment in. "The longest part will be looking for certain components in your blood. I should have the results by breakfast."

"Wait, you plan on working all night?" She asked, shocked. 

"I don't have any classes tomorrow," he said, as if working for hours on end without any sleep were no big deal. He looked back at her a smiled. "Really, don't worry about me. This won't be my first all-nighter; though it will be the first one where I'm studying something remotely fascinating."

Going back to her dorm to sleep _really_ didn't appeal to her now. How could she, when Ford would be up all night trying to figure this out for her? "In that case, I'll be pulling an all-nighter too," she stated stubbornly.

"Alane, really, I can handle myself here. This equipment is all really simple, even my brother could work it."

"Who says I'll be helping you?" She asked with a grin before pulling her notebook from her pocket. "You need quiet to work, and I haven't written another entry in awhile. I'll be at my place in the woods if you need me." At least this way she would still be awake while he worked, rather than back at her dorm struggling to sleep.

Ford eyed the off-colored book curiously. "Are you ever going to let me read that?" He asked in a joking tone.

"Nope," she responded with a smile before turning around and walking towards the exit. "Just come get me if you find something interesting!"

She left the lab after that and began making her way across the dark campus. Only a few of the lights outside were still functioning, and they flickered to life as she neared them. That, along with the looming shadows of the woods would've been creepy to her on any other night. But just then she was too excited to be scared.

By this time, Alane had memorized every inch of the woods, for she'd go to there practically every afternoon to study. So though it was slightly more difficult navigating the area in the dark, she made it to her hill with no real issue. After her actually pleasant walk through the forest she'd come to love, Alane emerged onto her hill and let out a little awed gasp.

Alane had never really been out there at night before. Well, for her and Ford's nightly meetup yes, but never at her spot. So she was a little taken aback by just how stunning the place looked at the time of day.

Her beloved tree was a dark silhouette against the lightening sky. The grass was covered in frozen dew that sparkled in what light there was, but it was still dark enough so that she could see the stars above her. It was breathtaking, like a scene from a fairy tale.

She took a long moment to relish in its beauty before walking up the gentle incline. She tried her best to disturb the frosted blades of grass as little as possible, for fear of ruining the natural beauty of the place. Alane was thankful to find that her place at the base of the tree was relatively dry, and quickly settled down cross-legged after withdrawing her notebook from her pocket.

It was about then that she realized she didn't know what to write about.

 _It's fine,_ she assured herself, flipping open the book. _I have time to waste, so I can take my time with this._

The book landed on the two-page entry Ford had made. It was the last entry to have been written in the book, and she realized she hadn't even read it over yet. What with classes and tests and trying to squeeze in as much sleep as she could in between, it had completely escaped her mind.

 _"My name is Stanford Filbrick Pines,"_ she read mentally, not wanting to break the silence of the forest with speech. _"I have been asked by the author of this journal to make a short entry related to myself. I understand this book lacks much space, so I'll try to keep it brief._

_"I'm from Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey, and have been attending Backupsmore for the past few months. It is here that I met the author of this journal, and my very close friend, Alane. I hope to graduate this university before following my dream of chasing the paranormal and eventually discovering the Grand Unified Theory Of Weirdness. From there I hope to publish my findings and join the ranks of other great scientists and visionaries, such as Tesla and Einstein."_

After his blurb of info, there were notes under the drawings that read _"How I look"_ and _"My birth defect- six fingers on each hand! Very useful for shadow puppets."_

That note about his hands made her grin. Just for a second though, because then she noticed another addition to the entry written in tiny, barely eligible cursive in the bottom corner.

_"I hope I was an adequate pillow. Also you snore. Not like bad snoring or anything, but more like tiny creature snoring. - Ford"_

Okay, _now_ she was just embarrassed all over again. _Seriously,_ she thought with a huff, putting a hand to her face. _Why did Bill have to show up at that time?_

The girl took a long moment to wallow in her embarrassment before taking a deep breath and flipping to the next blank page in her diary. She came out there to write, so we she was going to write. Besides, she had the next few thousand years to replay her falling asleep on Ford and be embarrassed about it all over again.

Pen poised above the old paper, she thought a moment before beginning her entry in her usual curly writing. _Today could be the day,_ she wrote. _With Ford's help, I might finally figure out what I am! I'm currently in the woods the campus backs up to while he studies a blood sample he took. He believes he should have an answer for me by morning!_

 _Ford has been a great help to me these past weeks,_ she continued with a smile on her face. _He is probably the closest friend I've ever had. I have no idea how I'll ever be able to repay him for all that he's done, both with figuring out what I am, and for being there for me. The latter is something I've never experienced before; people willing to stand up for me, to comfort me. It's an amazing feeling knowing that there is at least one person who cares about me that much._

_So Ford, if you ever do read my journal... I know I say this to you a lot, but thank you._

After rereading her entry, which had spanned onto a second page and she was not happy about that, she gave the ink a moment to dry before closing the book. As she stood up, she returned her precious book to her pocket and stretched out her arms.

She was suddenly overtaken with a wide yawn that left tears in the corners of her eyes. "After this, I'm sleeping for a week," she murmured to herself before looking at the sky. It was now too light to see the stars, and the frost on the grass was beginning to melt.

 _Ford might be about done,_ she thought to herself. It had to have been at least an hour. Yeah, that wasn't too long an expanse of time, but she could at least _check_ to see if he was done, or needed help. If he wasn't or didn't, she could always come back to the woods to study a bit.

Her legs shook with excitement as she walked back through the woods, back in the direction of the lab.


	17. Dream A Little Dream Of Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dum-dee-dum  
> Just casually adding a chapter title for this one because I, well, actually thought of a title
> 
> -> Minor violence warning <-

It was a bit odd as Alane walked across the campus lawn. Something about her surroundings just didn't feel... right, to her. There was frost on the ground but she wasn't cold. There was a breeze blowing through the trees but she felt no wind on her face. And the world... it felt eerily silent just then.

But she didn't pay it much attention. Any odd feelings she was experiencing, she associated them with walking the campus alone, and her practically overwhelming excitement. What else could it be, anyway?

The lights outside of the lab were flickering as she reached the building, before going out completely as she reached for the doorknob. But once again, she paid it no attention, instead just opening the door and walking into the lab.

Practically all the lights were still out, but further inside she could make out the silhouette of her friend. He had his hands balled into fists and planted firmly on the counter besides a microscope. His head was ducked, as if he were glaring at the counter as well. Ford didn't stir as Alane slowly made her way over to him. 

"Ford?" She called quietly, voice thick with sudden concern. He didn't reply, and the only noise in the building was the echo of her own footfalls. "Ford, is everything alright? D-Did you find something wrong in the blood sample?"

Her friend finally looked up at her, and she recoiled slightly from the force of his glare. "No, nothing is alright," he said through gritted teeth as he straightened himself and turned his gaze to the wall ahead of him. "I've studied the blood sample forwards and backwards, I've compared it to all the ones in the lab, to all the ones in my books. _Nothing!"_ He ended by violently dragging an arm across the counter, knocking all the equipment he'd been using to the floor. Glass shattered and Alane let out a little yelp of surprise.

"I-It's alright, Ford," she assured him with a wavering smile, taking a small step towards the enraged boy as she extended an arm. "W-We'll try something else, okay? This whole thing really isn't important enough to get angry about."

The boy stiffened before looking back over at her. His glasses reflected the little light in the room, so she couldn't make out his eyes. But she wasn't sure if she really wanted to just then, anyway. "Not _important?"_ He growled before letting go of the counter and quickly stalking towards her. Alane backed up a few steps, but he was there too quickly, grabbing both of her shoulders roughly. "This is only the single most important thing I have done in my pathetic life! And I'm _failing_ at it!"

Alane winced at the force of his grasp, feeling his fingers jabbing into her already sore muscles. "You're not failing, Ford," she managed to get out. Her friend's sudden anger had come as a shock, and she wasn't entirely sure how to react to it. "We've accomplished more these past few weeks than I have in my entire life. We're so close to figuring this all out! So what if this blood test was a dead end? We can try something else some other time." She swallowed nervously before adding, "And please, c-can you let go of me?"

Ford shook his head, but it didn't seem directed at her. "No, no, I refuse to give up on this so soon," he murmured, dropping his hands. Alane quickly took a step away from him, watching her friend warily. "I've probably overlooked other tests, ones that could yield actual results. I just need to keep at this, just a little longer, then I'll have it..." He began to walk back over to his work station, shoes crunching on glass and stepping in the blood that had pooled from the shattered syringe.

"No, Ford," Alane said, finally seeming to regain a little bit of her composure. She walked closer to him. "You're not keeping this up tonight. You're clearly exhausted, and it's getting to your head. You need to go back to your dorm and get some rest. We can pick this up again in a day or two, once you're back to your usual self."

"What part of _"single most important thing"_ don't you understand?" He snapped, turning to face her once more. "I'm not waiting around for answers anymore! We're going to solve this mystery _tonight!"_

"You said it yourself, there's nothing left to compare the blood samples to! You're just grasping at thin air now. Please Ford, just..." She sighed heavily and looked at him pleadingly. "We've been at this for days. Neither of us have slept but for an hour or two each night. You need to rest. We can get back to this some other day, once you've..."

"Once I've what?" He demanded, his glare returning.

"Once you've calmed down a bit, because you're practically the definition of a mad scientist right now." No point in sugar coating things, and what she was saying didn't seem to be getting through to him as it was. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're scaring me a little. So please Ford, can we just take a break?"

Ford was quiet for a long moment, his gaze now fixed on the mess he'd caused. The microscope was by his foot, a book he'd been using as reference lay open and face-down in the contents of a shattered test tube, and blood from the syringe was visible on the side of his boot.

Alane assumed his silence meant that he'd finally realized how he'd just been acting, but then she heard him mutter under his breath, "No, no... we can't stop now. We're so... we're so close, I can feel it," he said in a barely audible tone before turning around and quickly surveying the lab. Louder, he said, "I just need better equipment, stuff more suited for this sort of th-." He suddenly cut himself off.

"What is it?" She asked slowly, trying to pinpoint what he was now staring at. But he was gazing into one of the dark corners of the room.

"A dissection," her friend whispered.

She was sure she must've misheard him. "A what?" Alane asked, her face pale.

"A dissection!" He said, as if this solution had been obvious. Ford surprised her by rushing towards the corner, vaulting over the counter that stood in his way, and pulling something from the darkness. It was one of the dissection tables she had seen earlier.

"It is perfect!" Ford said as he wheeled the table over to her. "A dissection would allow me to see first hand everything that sets you apart from humans. Different or missing organs, what areas of your brain are constantly in use. Alane, this is how we'll finally figure this out!"

Ford had stopped a few feet away with the table in front of him. It was on the small side, probably never having been used for an animal larger than a dog, but it looked sturdy and did seem to be just big enough for someone her size to be strapped to it. She looked at it from her excited and smiling friend.

"Ford..." She started off slowly, taking a step back. Her legs shook and she was actually afraid now. "Ford, y-you know I can't heal from extreme injuries. This... a dissection would surely kill me!"

He waved a hand, as if to brush away the issue. "I'm confident you'll survive the procedure," he said, still looking excited. "I think the only issue here is that you've probably never _been_ severely injured, and therefore just assume you can't heal from potentially fatal wounds. Your healing may be slightly delayed in relation to larger, more extensive injuries, but as long as I take the necessary precautions you'll be alright."

"No, Ford. Just... No!" This was _absurd!_ Her healing was a complicated thing to explain, but she knew Ford understood how it worked. Let's say she accidentally cut herself while cooking. She'd bleed for a moment before starting to heal. This is because her healing was delayed, so that it would kick in after all wounds had been inflicted. If she were being tortured, any wounds dealt wouldn't begin to heal until the person dealing the blows took a break. Up until that point, she'd bruise and hurt and bleed like any normal person.

What this meant is, during a dissection, if Ford continuously kept working on her without taking the precautions a surgeon would while working on a patient in a hospital, she would die. No questions asked, she would die. The only way she wouldn't would be if he worked in short bursts; cut her open, looked at something, let her heal, repeat. But it would be an excruciatingly painful process for her to go through.

Ford looked a little angry as Alane continued, "You have to trust me on this, Ford. No, I have never been subjected to a dissection, but I know what I'm talking about here. A dissection would just be a slow and painful way to kill me. But I understand what you're getting at here! Perhaps if we were able to get some sort of x-ray scan conducted, we could gather the same intel that a dissection would provide us with."

She let out a shaky laugh as Ford continued to stare at her. "And, I mean, really. This mystery of what I am? Is it _really_ worth putting my life on the line to solve it?"

At last, she thought she'd finally gotten through to her friend. But once again, she proved to be wrong, for he just shot her an unnerving look and nodded. "I think it is, actually," he said.

She was too shocked to react as Ford approached her. Was she hearing this correctly? Did her friend really value this mystery over her own life? She struggled to find words to express the betrayal she was feeling, the genuine hurt in her chest. But she snapped out of it as Ford's hand closed around her wrist and began to pull her in the direction of the table, which sat forebodingly under the one still flickering light.

"C'mon, Ford! Y-You must be kidding! This is all j-just some joke, r-right? Haha, you got me! P-Please, just let me go!" She exclaimed as he pulled her. But she was ignored.

Alane was in shock. Complete and utter shock. And once again, she found herself in a situation where she just didn't know what to do. There were a lot of options available, but most involved hurting the boy. But she didn't want to hurt Ford- he was still her friend, he was just clearly not in a stable state of mind at the moment, for whatever reason.

But what else could she do, if not hurt him? It wasn't like he was listening to her reasoning, her pleas at the moment. So what could she do?

 _"Bill!"_ She screamed, voice echoing through the lab as Ford violently shoved her towards the table. He made quick work of slamming one of her arms down on the cold surface before using one of the straps to hold it there. "Bill! _Please,_ Bill! _Help me!"_

"Who are you calling for?" Ford asked in mild confusion and blatant annoyance. "There's no one who can hear you, Alane. Now please, just get up on the table. I don't want to be forced to use force." He paused and chuckled to himself. "Well, _more_ force that is."

He was right. If Bill were present and had heard her, he could be there by now doing something, even just appearing in her mind to say "I told you so, kid!" But it was silent except for the sound of Ford's boots on glass, and her scrambling to remain standing at the odd angle she was now being held at.

Shock had passed, and now pure panic was setting in. Her breathing was coming out short and fast, her eyes were wide like a deer in the headlights. Ford sighed, rolling his eyes behind his glasses, which looked a bit odd due to his still present black eye, before lifting her legs and dropping her on the table. While Alane tried to keep from freaking out completely, he strapped down her other arm.

 _I need to fight back!_ She thought to herself as she continued to breathe irregularly. _I can't just let him do this because he's my friend and I don't want to hurt him!_

Oh, but she was tired, so tired. She'd gotten maybe four or five hours sleep total within the past week and a half, and her fatigue combined with the shock and fear she was experiencing made it hard for her to just jump into action. Plus she had no idea what to do: break out and risk seriously injuring her friend, or let him dissect her and risk dying bloody. Neither idea was appealing to her, so she was left at a stand still, fighting to keep breathing and weakly pulling against her restraints.

Then all of the sudden, she began to cry.

Her tears surprised her. She wasn't one to cry during normal circumstances, and though this was a special case, terrifying and heart-wrenching, it was still odd to feel the warm liquid pooling around her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.

Ford had been trying to tie down her kicking legs with the other restraints when he looked up at her and stumbled back in shock. "What's happening?" He asked, fear edging his tone.

"What?" She asked, voice thick as she sniffled. Her irregular breathing was starting to make her feel lightheaded.

Her friend looked disgusted, fearful and intrigued all at once as he raised a six fingered hand and pointed at her. "Your eyes!" Is all he seemed to be able to get out.

Brow furrowed in confusion, Alane looked around. She could see fine, so what was wrong with her eyes? But then she caught sight of herself in the reflective steel of a bowl Ford had previously knocked to the floor.

Her eyes were black, and it wasn't tears that streamed down her face.

It was blood.

She let out a terrified little shriek, which spiked her panic even more. She could see her hair changing from its usual light brown to black, which contrasted strongly against her now pale skin. Even her _clothes_ seemed to be changing color as she looked down at herself. 

"What is happening?" Ford demanded in a volume just under a yell. "What is this?"

"I-I don't-," she cut herself off suddenly as she felt a calm wash over her, followed by a complete absence of all feeling. She took a long, deep breath, no longer feeling like she was struggling to breathe.

All her panic, her fear, her shock and her hurt, it was gone, having been replaced with... nothing. She felt absolutely nothing now as she turned towards Ford.

Locking eyes with the startled boy, she tore through her restraints like they were made of paper before turning on the table and dropping her legs back to the floor. Her black boots crunched on the glass, but she didn't react to it. Frankly, she no longer cared.

"Alane?" Ford's voice caught her attention and she slowly turned her head to look at him, black hair falling over part of her face. "What is happening?"

The question almost amused her. Almost. She smiled a too-big, toothy smile at him, pushing away from the table and stalking closer to the boy, who backed away from her.

"I-I'm serious, what is going on?" Ford demanded. He sounded terrified, though his face was rather hard set.

"To be honest," she started slowly, still smiling. It sounded like she were hearing herself speak from someone else's body; like this wasn't even her anymore. "I don't know. But I like it."

Ford was backed up to the counter now, his hands grasping it as he leaned back, as if putting the few extra inches between them would make a difference. But Alane just walked right up to him, standing on the microscope he'd knocked to the floor so as to be a bit closer to his height.

"W-What are you doing?" The boy stammered, looking at her.

Alane stood on her tiptoes and leaned in towards his ear. She whispered to him sweetly, the smell of blood on her hot breath, "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to." Then she pulled away and smiled at him.

A split second later, her hand was at his throat. The boy gagged, clawing at her fingers, trying to loosen her grip, but she was too strong. She seemed to be watching out of body as she lifted the boy into the air before spinning on her heel and throwing him.

She wanted to scream, to feel sorrow, regret, anything, as she saw the boy's head hit the edge of the metal table. When she heard his limp body fall onto the glass, and see him lay there unmoving. She wanted to, but she didn't. Because whatever she was now, it didn't seem like she could control it.

Alane stalked towards the boy, who she now saw was still breathing though had a gash just below his hairline, from which he bled heavily. She knelt down besides him and used the collar of his button up blue shirt to lift him so that he'd face her. She raised her fist to deal a punch, but stopped, arm shaking as she stared at him.

In his glasses, she saw herself. She looked like a demon with her pale skin and black eyes, the dried blood that ran down her face. Even as she stared at herself unfeeling, she knew she had to stop before this all got out of hand.

She dropped Ford, letting him fall back to the floor with a mild groan before standing up and backing away. The further she went from the boy, the more she began to realize what had happened, what was _still_ happening, and slowly panic began to overwhelm her again.

 _What have I done?_ She thought as fresh tears, or was it blood still? began to stream down her face. With a final look at her friend, she turned and ran from the room, the lab doors echoing as they closed behind her.

 

Alane's eyes flew open suddenly, and she found herself sprawled on her side, back on her hill in the woods. She scrambled into a sitting position, heart pounding in her chest with a fear that ran deep to her core.

 _What happened?_ She thought wildly, looking around. Had it all been just a dream? _No, no._ She shook her head. It had been too real. Too vivid. But she couldn't remember anything past leaving the lab and...

"Ford!" She exclaimed before covering her mouth. _I just left him there! He was hurt and I just_ left _him!_ Yes the boy had tried to dissect her, but he wasn't in his right mind at the time. There had to be some explanation for why he'd been acting like that, and it didn't help to justify her actions one bit.

 _What even happened to me back there?_ She thought, putting a hand to her head and looking down with a sigh. That's when she noticed her diary.

It was sitting in front of her, opened to the last entry she'd written. Except it wasn't just the entry anymore. The majority of both pages had been scribbled over with jagged letters. Alane frantically picked up the journal and flipped through it, her face paling as she found that almost all her recent entries were covered in the jagged writing.

Upon further inspection, even some pages after her entries had been scribbled on. On these blank pages, it was easier to make out what had been written: _""I hurt him,""_ she read to herself as legitimate tears began to run down her face and splash onto the paper. _""I hurt Ford. What have I done. What am I? I hurt him. What have I done...""_

She dropped her diary and scooted back up against the tree, pulling her legs close to her chest. She rested her head on her knees, hair falling over her face as she quietly sobbed. A flurry of emotions were going through her; confusion, regret, sadness, fear, betrayal, and she had no idea how to process any of them, let alone how to wrap her mind around what had just happened.

Alane raised her head, sniffling as she returned her focus to the diary before her. She tried to ignore the flare of fear she had upon spotting a few strands of black in the mess of hair covering her face as she reached out for the book.

Roughly throwing it open, Alane flipped through to the first entry to have been scribbled on. Her eyes trailed over the words about her time so far at Backupsmore before roaming over to the spots of blood that covered the page, presumably having dripped from her eyes as she wrote the new edition to it.

Closing her eyes tightly, she tore the page from the diary. Then the next. And the next. She stopped only when she opened her eyes and found the entry Ford had written, untouched and perfect.

After a long moment, she tore it out too.

She ripped out all the entries that had been ruined and tore them to shreds, leaving only the last double page. She wasn't sure why she left it, perhaps to reminds herself of what had happened? No matter her reasons, she left it there before closing her book and returning it to her pocket.

"You done throwing your little tantrum?" Bill's voice rang through her head.

"Bill!" She gasped out, closing her eyes. No one was around to see her changed pupils, and frankly at the moment she didn't care if someone did, but closing her eyes always made it seem like Bill was actually there with her. It was... comforting. "Bill, I-I... I..."

"I know what you did, kid," he said in an unusually comforting tone. "Really, I was hoping that when you finally started resorting to violence, it would be less dramatic than this."

"What happened to me?" She said quietly as she half-heartedly wiped her face dry of tears. "I-I was a monster back there, Bill. An actual monster."

There was a pause, and she could picture the demon rubbing the back of his head. "Let's just say it was your defense mechanism," he eventually said.

"Defense mechanism?" She repeated in confusion.

"It kicks in when you're scared beyond reason, when you're panicking, or when you're being incredibly emotional like right now." He paused. "It's meant to protect you. Ya know, get you out of scrapes and danger when I'm not around to. But, ah, as you've probably realized, it is hard to control.

"I didn't want to tell you about it because I thought once you knew, you'd constantly be worried about triggering it, and I can already tell that I was right. But the cat's outta the bag now."

"But why did I look like that?" Alane asked, still hopelessly confused. As an afterthought she added, "A-And why did I hurt Ford?"

"It's a defense, kid. Sixer was who you were scared of, so he's who you attacked. It's simple animal instinct here." Alane was sure he was shrugging to himself. "And why you looked like that? Beats me, kid. It may be hard to believe, but I don't know _everything."_

"I-Is Ford alright at least? I mean, I saw he was still breathing, but it looked like I had really hurt him..."

"He's fine, kid. Got a bit of a headache, probably some long term head trauma there, but he'll be alright in the long run." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "But, sorry to break this to you kid, your pal is ratting on ya as we speak."

Her face paled. "W-What?"

"You heard me. The second he came to, he ran right to the man in charge and started describing everything that had happened. Odds are there'll be people searching your dorm looking for signs of you."

"Then I need to get back, get my stuff and get out of here!" She exclaimed, scrambling to her feet.

"No," Bill said simply. "Too risky. You'll be fine without that junk you always lug around. You got your diary, you got that phone and that outfit you always insist on wearing, and most importantly you have me.

"What you need to do is gather yourself and get the heck out of here. Ford knows about this place, so if they don't find you in your dorm, this is where they'll come next."

And as quickly as he had appeared, Bill was gone.

Alane opened her eyes. She was shaking all over as she looked around at the hill that was bathed in early morning sunlight. To think, she'd come out here with such high expectations for this morning...

Without bothering to pick up the scattered pages she'd torn out of her diary, who cared about them anymore anyway? she began to make her way down the hill. Unlike all other days though, she continued down the opposite side, away from the school. She'd never gone that way before, but now seemed like the prefect time to explore it.

She was still confused, still scared, and still hurting inside due to what had happened. But Bill had told her to leave, so she was going to leave. She knew better than to disobey him.

After all, Bill was always right.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyy, the final chapter is here!
> 
> Now that I've finished this book, I'll *probably* begin working on the third book again. I honestly don't know if there's anyone reading these things, but hey, in case there are, I've still got some story left for y'all!

Aha! _Yes!_

Bill floated along after Alane, invisible to the world around him. He could barely contain his excitement as he followed her, occasionally stopping just to laugh happily to himself or rub his hands together.

He hadn't expected it to work, let alone this well, but it _had!_ His ingenious scheme had gone over better than he could've ever hoped, and now everything was back on track! It had been so simple and easy to pull off, too. It was almost criminal.

Bill had solved his problem with his original idea: a dream. The best nightmare he'd ever created, even. All he'd had to do was wait for his little flesh servant to fall asleep in the woods while she wrote in her diary, then quietly tamper with her head for a bit.

Even after the nightmare had finished with and he'd cut to black, dreamless sleep and left her mind, the girl had remained asleep. Apparently the days on end running on a few hours' rest had finally caught up to her. So, he'd done the only reasonable thing: made his beautiful nightmare seem even more real.

The guy in charge of the school, Bill didn't even know his name, had made a deal with him awhile back. The man had wanted his school to get the "recognition it deserved" by having some truly astounding geniuses enroll there and graduate.

It had been just before the science fair, and he had known Backupsmore would be the go-to school if Stanford didn't get into that fancy one on the other side of the country. Not like his family could afford much else. So he'd made the deal: he'd get not one, but _two_ geniuses to enroll in the school... for a price.

The man had accepted, saying he'd do anything in return. Bill had been waiting over a year to cash in, and so, while Alane was asleep, that's just what he did.

In the body of the man, Bill went back out to the woods. He scribbled jagged, frightening words in Alane's journal over all of her recent entries. He left Ford's blank, just to test something out, before proceeding to cut the man's fingers and scatter droplets of blood on a few pages and leave the book right where she'd see it upon awaking.

After having a little _too_ much fun sabotaging that old diary, he went back to the main building and called the police. After stabbing himself with a fork a few times, he informed the authorities that one of the students at the school was "deranged, violent, and maybe not even human." He went on to say that said girl had attacked him before fleeing the campus, and made sure to include a _very_ detailed description about how she looked before hanging up suddenly.

Once he'd finished making sure Alane was actually wanted in the area for violent acts, he left the slightly broken body and returned to the girl in the woods, just in time to play his part in convincing her to leave. She'd listened to his every word like a frightened child looking for guidance. It was _perfect!_

And to top things off, she'd torn out Ford's entry. Bill had wanted to make sure she was really going to severe ties with the boy. Had she not torn it out, it would've meant she thought there was still a speck of hope. Hope that, even after everything, they might be able to figure things out and be "friends." But she'd torn out the paper, making it clear to him that Ford was gonna fade into nothing but an unpleasant memory.

For the time being, at least.

Now came phase two of his plan. He had to make sure Alane kept on believing that the dream was real. Each time she'd stop, try to start a new life, he'd have to jump in, maybe posses someone and get her wanted in that area, too. He needed to get her unstable, on edge, so that she wouldn't trust anyone but him. That way, when he finally got his end result in all this, she'd side with him. Bringing on a global weird apocalypse would be a lot easier with a demonic and almost as powerful creature to help him out!

And in the meantime, he'd need to keep his eye on old Fordsy as well. Meeting Alane would've jump started his interest in the paranormal, and after spying on him for so long, he knew how the kid's mind worked. He'd be drawn to the weirdness hot spot of the world, Gravity Falls, Oregon, and from there the real fun would begin.

"I almost feel sorry doing this to you," Bill said as he floated up behind Alane. The girl was making her way through the woods still, nervously glancing over her shoulder every minute or so, as if afraid she were being followed. _"Almost."_

The dream demon cackled happily a final time before vanishing, leaving the girl truly alone.

 

Ford sighed heavily.

He just didn't _get it._ He'd been studying Alane's blood sample for hours on end, and it hadn't matched any of the descriptions in his book, nor any of the samples he found in storage in the building.

About twenty minutes before, he'd actually resorted to taking a sample of his own blood to compare to her's. It was actually the closest so far! But it just didn't make sense. Alane _couldn't_ be human... could she?

The boy took his glasses off and ran a six fingered hand down his face, ignoring the flare of pain from his black eye. "I have no idea what to do," he muttered to himself quietly, breaking the silence that had stretched over the lab since Alane's departure hours before. "Either I'm missing something, or this equipment just isn't good enough." It was probably the latter. Not like any of the other things in the school were up to par, why should the lab equipment be?

Yawning now, Ford scooted back in his chair, away from the counter and microscope. He stood up and put his hands in his pocket before walking towards the door, his footfalls echoing throughout the empty room. He'd go and find Alane, tell her that he couldn't find a match, and see what she wanted to try next.

Part of him hoped she'd suggest putting this whole thing off, he realized as he started in the direction of the woods after exiting the building. He was worn out, and if the equipment wasn't good enough to detect the significant differences in her DNA, then there wasn't a point of keeping this up. At least not at the time being. They could just take a break, focus on school and graduating, then resume once he had his own lab. It would only take a couple years, which is a very short wait compared to how long she's already dealt with the mystery of her's. And in the meantime they could continue compiling information on her abilities.

Their similar blood continued to bug him, however, as he made his way through the woods. _Could_ Alane be a human? He had his suspicions about it before, that she was just some mutated or extinct variation, but there'd been a lot of things to counter it.

Now however, it seemed like he'd found definite proof of it.

Ford stepped over the stream and proceeded out into the clearing. "Hey, Alane!" He called out joyously, wanting to mask just how tired and stumped he felt at the moment.

But his friend didn't answer his call, and as he walked up the hill he realized it was because she wasn't there. Her usual spot against the tree was empty, and the only sign of her having ever arrived there were some torn pages of her diary.

As he looked at the papers, a breeze caused them to blow away. By moving quickly he was able to grab the nearest out of the air, but the rest were gone. His face was a mask of confusion as he looked down at the paper.

It was just a scrap, a final line of an entry at the bottom of a page. There were scribbles covering parts of it but he could clearly make out the words:

_So Ford, if you ever do read my journal... I know I say this to you a lot, but thank you._

He looked up from the paper, feeling as if something inside him had just broke. "Alane?" He said quietly, as if saying it would bring her back.


End file.
